“What if he does?”
“You, an outsider, and a female at that, believe you know our laws better than we do?”
“I’m not saying that. All I’m saying is we’ve got the right to defend ourselves, right?”
“You do,” he reluctantly replied.
“And I can review the laws under which we’re being tried, yes?”
“Yes, you may,” he conceded. “But where are you going with this?”
“I just want to exercise my rights.”
“What do you want?”
“I ask for access to the laws to better review and understand them.”
“That is all you want?”
Ella shrugged. “Well, yeah. I’ve read a bunch of other things about the Norvalians, but I didn’t dive into modern legal practices.”
“You mock our laws?”
“No, I just didn’t think they’d be as relevant. I was trying to learn about your order. I hadn’t gotten around to them, is all.”
The judge stroked his chin, silent a long moment before letting out a frustrated sigh. “It is allowed by law. Very well, you shall have access provided in your cell.”
“Thank you.”
“But that does not halt our proceedings. And with the testimonies I have heard today, it is clear that the threshold for initial punishment has been met. The female is an outsider, and as such she is exempt from this phase. But as for you, Draikis, in two days’ time you face your first punishment.”
“Wait,firstpunishment?” Ella objected. “But the trial has only just begun. Punishments are at the end.”
The judge and others present laughed. “Oh, outsider. Now it is even more clear you have not studied our laws. Yes,finalsentencing comes later, but due to clear violations of this egregious and undeniable nature, admitted openly by the defendant, Draikis mustnowface his first punishment. He must face the lash.”
Ella felt her stomach drop. “Lash? You’re going to whip him?”
“Yes. Publicly. It is the law. Ever since the old times, this has been the way. So it was then, and so it remains. Take them away. Punishment will be carried out in two days’ time before the next phase of these proceedings.”
Ella met Draikis’s eyes, shocked to find them calm and accepting his fate. A little smile even creased his lips as if to say, “It’s okay. I’ll be fine.”
Dragged to her cell and locked away alone to ponder his fate, Ella truly wondered if he would be.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
As promised a digital projection copy of the current laws was provided to Ella in her cell shortly after her return. It was hanging in the air, nothing for her to touch, but she didn’t really need that anyway. She could scan and search to her heart’s content, and that was all that mattered.
It was a Gordian mess of rules and regulations, standards and norms, and, of course, laws and punishments, but she nevertheless made good headway once she got the hang of the unusual framework. And some of the sections were beginning to make sense.
“This is a fucking mess,” she grumbled, skimming through page after page of legalese blended with religious doctrine. “But there has to be something. And I’ve got two days to find it.”
The odds of an outsider finding a loophole to spare Draikis his public lashing were small. She wasn’t just an outsider, as they called her, but Ella wasn’t even actually a member of the Dotharian Conglomerate, though she knew better than to ever admit it. None of that mattered to her, though. Her lover was going to be punished, and she was his only hope. While he’d protected her on many occasions, most notably saving her lifeon day one, even the mighty hero who had unintentionally swept her off her feet was not invincible. Someone would have to step up, and she had little doubt his brothers would not.
“Fine,” she said with fierce determination. “You saved me. Now it’s my turn.”
The fantasy of saving the day, however, clashed harshly with the reality of reading page after page of rather mind-numbing legalese. Hours passed, then days. Two, to be exact, and the hour of Draikis’s punishment was close at hand.
“There’s got to besomethingin here. There has to be.”
