That he’d not been able to balance his role as a councilman and with his personal life better. That it was his greatest shame that he didn’t see it sooner and how much his family had suffered because he had been focused on our society and justice. People ate it up. They wereimpressedat how humble and contrite he was to accept responsibility.
People were fucking applauding his decision to take a sabbatical from ruling on cases and focus on his family. He was working on an archiving project with a team that the council always put off but would be removed from his normal duties until he felt he could balance better. That going forward the council needed that and breaks and hopefully people supported that.
They did. I was glad for that and people were seeing the council in a better light instead of the top-tier families but… Yeah, I wasn’t thrilled about the spin on the bullshit. Not when I knew the truth and how six of thirteen would have allowed Conrad to own and abuse me for power.
So it hurt. It fucking hurt a lot.
I couldn’t even discuss Councilman Hanson or those others. They had thought they would resume their sessions like nothing had happened. I was pretty sure several people still had ringing ears from the long rant of yelling profanities I had in response.
Tracey laughed. Jasmine simply blinked at me.
Winter had clapped.
Mr. and Mrs. Oliveria looked at me like they’d never seen me before—along with Link and Taylor.
Yeah, it was like that, but I felt fucking justified.
Butat least those other councilmen have been pushed to basically handling traffic court with the expansion of the council estate being worked on. Two new smaller hearing rooms are done so they’re basically getting the cold shoulder from the big cases and responsibility until they “pull their heads out of their asses and realize they’re supposed to be the good guys.”
That was what Taylor had said they’d decided. I was a fan, but I worried that doing that would only make them misbehave more. Powerful people didn’t like to be called on their shit or told they were doing anything wrong.
Or so I found. I saw the potential for it to backfire, but I had enough on my overflowing plate to handle.
I was grateful when one of Taylor’s guys suggested we do some sparring while he was glamoured as Conrad. Apparently, he needed to work more with his left side and I needed… We knew what I needed.
It was great fucking therapy. Really, it was. Even just getting to slap away his hands coming for me over and over andoveragain was fucking cathartic.
Oh, but we learned to have someone stand by who could heal.
Yeah, whoops. I’d gotten scared and sent an energy blast at him and it had been bad. Luckily, Rita had been at the house and I gave her the power to help since she was trained. I could do basic healing—most could, but that was like putting pressure on a cut or how humans took an Advil.
Really, having healer training was way different. It could be from—to put in human terms—having EMT training like Link did, to a nurse or a general doctor who saw too much. Then therewere specializations that came with hefty costs so like the human world from what I knew.
Rita was like a general doctor if she could pass the test with the magic level from what I understood. So definitely great to have around in a pinch.
I did also talk to Taylor about what I noticed at the Hanson estate. As much as I hated them, I didn’t want it on my conscience if something happened and I doubted it was just them. He rolled his eyes and said I was preaching to the choir, but he was just a pup they didn’t listen to either.
Well, okay then, but I’d been responsible and it was off my shoulders. I probably shouldn’t feel that way, but… I was a good person.
No, probably more an idiot? Maybe not because Mrs. Hanson was trying to talk to me, and from the way Mrs. Oliveria kept hinting it might help, I had a feeling it was to apologize or something.
Later. I could deal with her guilt or issues later. Right now, it was about me and it was fair to say that. I thought so at least.
The sparring helped more than to get my aggression out about Conrad and work out my feelings on the whole situation. I felt more confident in my sparring and the guy was impressed how well I was getting the moves and fast. He said I was acing what most human recruits would do at the end of training and I hadn’t put in the same time.
Yay?
But also people touching me was better. Much better. I couldn’t have them grab me out of the blue and they were all being careful about that, but it was okay when I saw it now. Really, it was the reaching for me. I tried not to be down on myself about it because I knew I’d been through a lot, but it seemed like an overreaction to what happened.
It wasn’t all that happened and the mind wasn’t linear and compiled. I felt like I got it, but… I didn’t likeget it. Shocking at eighteen, right?
School wasdefinitelybetter. I think a lot of everyone took to heart what happened and how wrong what was said on campus truly could be. People were taking what Coach said as law and… Lost in their own bubble of bullshit and toxic that place could be.
I saw the guilty looks from faculty even if they never had the guts to say anything to me. I heard it from some of their familiars, and I knew several had apologized toWyattthat they’d spread the gossip againsthim.
Fuckers, but at least it was something.
Same with too many warlocks apologizing to Winter that they’d talked shit about his girlfriend. Seriously, I needed to get tattoos or something—find a way to become more threatening looking because I was giving those guys death looks and they didn’t even take note of me like I was just a cute mouse.
