“That remains to be seen,” Joseph said calmly.
Vitus clenched his jaw, the muscles flexing as he ground his teeth. “This proves nothing of my yearling’s guilt. The vampire was working alone.”
“Later that same night, Liam and I were ambushed by over twenty hunters. We took three of them into custody for questioning.” I pretended not to see the way the council’s enforcers flicked a look at Liam before examining me more carefully. I thought I detected faint approval on their faces before it was gone. “One of them was quite forthcoming. They were promised a council member’s blood so they could be inducted into the ranks of the hunter born.”
That caused a reaction in a few of the council members. Tze and Sophia, the council member not the matriarch, flashed their fangs as anger lit their expressions.
“Nonsense—no member of this council would do something like that,” Vitus dismissed.
Tse and Sophia looked at the council member whose name I didn’t know. The dark-haired woman inclined her head. They relaxed, losing some of their anger.
Thomas’s intelligent gaze saw all of it. “Maybe this person wouldn’t go that far, but I’m certain they’re not above promising things they have no intention of delivering.”
The observation brought a thoughtful look to the faces of several of the council members. Jabari and the strange woman were the only two whose expressions remained closed off.
Vitus seemed to realize he was losing them so he went on the offensive. “This changes nothing. Whether Dominick did or did not conspire with hunters, he was a representative of this council. His death was ours to decide. Not yours.”
“Do you have proof of his death?” I asked, pushing Connor’s arm out of the way and stepping forward.
Thomas closed his mouth in the process of rebutting Vitus’s statement, sending me a thoughtful look but not interrupting as I reached his side.
I took that to mean he trusted I knew what I was doing.
Here’s hoping.
“I felt his passing,” Vitus snarled, doing a good imitation of a person who’d just lost someone close to him. “I experienced his pain and terror as he was murdered.”
“All we have is your word of that. And from what I heard, you have a vendetta against our line.” I glanced at the rest of the council to see how they were taking my words. All I needed to do was create a tiny seed of doubt. Enough for Thomas to do his thing.
Vitus glared at the last council member in silent demand.
Several seconds passed before she stirred. “He speaks the truth of his childe’s death.”
I kept my pulse under control, trying not to show my excitement. I was right. She could detect any lies or truths we were telling. Even if the person speaking was an ancient vampire.
Good. That would make this next part easier.
“Alright but that doesn’t mean any of us killed him,” I said, meeting the woman’s enigmatic gaze. “We did not participate in Dominick’s death. Nor did we order a human or spook to kill the council’s enforcer. In fact, whoever killed him isn’t one of Thomas’s line.”
I’d chosen my words very carefully. Technically, I hadn’t asked Alches to eat Dominick. And Thomas definitely didn’t. You could say Alches did that entirely on his own. The realm guardian also wasn’t one of Thomas’s people—because he was mine.
The corner of the woman’s lips lifted a tiny bit, the only sign of emotion I’d seen on her face so far. “She speaks the truth.”
Vitus’s eyes widened. “Impossible.”
Thomas looked like the Cheshire cat as he smirked.
“If the Master of this City is not responsible for your childe’s death, there is no reason for him to be removed from power,” Jabari intoned.
Vitus got a stranglehold on his anger, an eerie calm replacing it. “There’s still the matter of Thomas’s sire. Ahrun is a clear threat to the covenant. His children have provided safe harbor to him before and cannot be trusted not to aide him again. I move his entire line be placed in the council’s custody until the ancient can be dealt with.”
There was silence as the council members considered Vitus’s argument.
“Ahrun derives power from his progeny. For the good of all, they must be stamped out if we’re to have any chance of ending his threat,” Vitus preached.
I didn’t like the look Sophia and Tse shared. As if they didn’t necessarily relish the proposed plan but might agree with it being the lesser evil. The small victory I’d gained vanished as the balance of opinion shifted back in Vitus’s direction.
See—this was why you couldn’t trust politicians. In what world did something like this make sense?
