this council to reduce my workload for me. If I have to get involved with the investigations, I will water down the council’s power. According to the law, I can do it,” he said, and they were all quiet. I noticed some of them look at me scornfully.
“With all due respect, your Eminence, Lunas are not allowed in the council hall, and they are not allowed to preside over matters. Their duty is to make sure the Hand bloodline always has an heir. You are not married to this woman yet; it will be advisable to keep her out of our business for now,” Joan said, and I knew what they were implying. I always wondered why Nellie never came; now I know why.
“Well, not in my Epoch,” Darius said and stood up.
“How many of you can boast of having Zora Riverstorm Albert’s achievements added to their belts? She is a strategist, an analyst, a warrior and one of the best investigators in our world. If that does not qualify her to sit in this box, observe, interfere and decide over matters, then I don’t know what would,” he said and sat down.
“I will not repeat myself. Let this be the last time any of you will speak of my Luna as if she is an outsider and an object. I will take it as an insult to my person, and I will not take it easy regardless of your family.” He said and sighed.
I looked at them, and they were silent. Some of them looked at me scornfully, except for Vino, who was smiling at me. I returned his smile, and he nodded.
They read the photocopied letter that Darius had passed to them, and they were silent. Then Pamela moved to question Bryce, and he was honest. She asked him if anyone was coerced.
“Are you sure you speak the truth, Enforcer?” She asked him, and Bryce kept his head down.
“I feared they would kill my wife and our unborn child. The instructions
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were clear. I was to get to the Hand estate so it would seem like I had a meeting with Lord Abelardo. I was to go to the East and state that the council sent me under Lord Hand’s orders to collect development tax. I was asked to be rude and threaten the head Alpha of the East, and when I was asked who sent me, I was to tell this council it was lord Abelardo Hand. That is the truth.” The man said, and Pamela nodded.
“So, what made you tell the truth?” She asked him.
“My Lord and Lady interrogated me in the council prison and figured out I was lying. I had to give up the pretence and tell the truth,” he confessed, and Pamela shook her head.
“Are you sure you were not coerced by Lady Zora?” She asked, and I would have slapped her if I had been close to her. Suddenly I began to feel the woman loathed me. I wondered what I did to these people.
She was now high on my investigation list. She better be clean, or I would disgrace her and make sure she loses her seat. I will make an example of the bitch. I was pissed off.
felt Darius’s hand on my thighs, and he touched it gently and smiled at
- me.
“Calm down, green eyes,” he pleaded with me, and I nodded.
“I wasn’t threatened or coerced by my Lady.” Enforcer Bryce said, and the woman kept quiet. I thought she would dare to ask if Darius coerced him, but she didn’t. The bitch.
“Very well then, I doubt there is any need for a trail,” Vino said, and people were silent.
“I hereby acquit Abelardo Hand of all the allegations made against him. I also acquit Councilman Larry McMillian Babanins of the suspicion of conniving with Abelardo to commit treason.” Vino said, and I
remembered the Babanins as one of the families that Collier took out,
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according to Jake Brighton. I kept a mental note of it.
Some enforcers went to release Abelardo and Larry from the chains. Abelardo walked away with his head bowed, feeling ashamed. Likewise Larry, but I noticed something while they walked, Abelardo kept his distance from Larry. Locked up for a few days, death looming over his head made Abelardo rethink certain things.
Soon I saw Abelardo come to join us in our box. I was uncomfortable, but he was Darius’s brother.
“Enforcer Bryce Golubev, you have lied against royalty. You committed an offence that would have cost the man his life. You also misled this council, which is an act of treason. As a result, we sentence you to death by beheading.” Vino pronounced with a tinge of anger, and I squeezed Darius’s lap.
“Do not let them kill him. This will not be the end of people plotting against you. The next person will never tell the truth if Bryce loses his life.” I said quickly, and Darius stopped the enforcers from taking Bryce
away.
“No one is going to die by beheading,” Darius said comfortably, and Abelardo growled. I could understand Abelardo’s anger, but Bryce had no choice.
“He spoke up and told the truth. He could have also maintained his lie, which would have saved him from punishment. But he told the truth and, in turn, saved my brother and councilman Larry from being sentenced for treason. As a result, I pardon him and move him to work at the Hand estate. I would rather surround myself with honest people than connivers,” Darius said, and the council murmured.
“The law, your Eminence,” Pamela said, and Darius shook his head.
“I choose mercy,” he said, and the woman looked at me. Her eyes showed she knew I was the one that instigated it. I needed to find a way to clip
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Who did not hate me.
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