Gadiel lifts his chin higher.
“This is something the king would want to handle himself.”
Khalid stares back at Gadiel with an unreadable face. Gadiel is either bold or stupid, I’m leaning closer to stupid. Finally, Khalid unbuttons his suit jacket and retakes his seat.
“What do you need?” he asks.
Gadiel clears his throat with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. “I think we all know the protocol for deporting a fallen. Especially one of high status. It must be cleared with a higher-up, a trial has to take place, and whomever territory the defendant is in should be notified.”
“Get to the point, Gadiel,” Rojun snarls.
Everyone in this room knows the deportation protocol like the back of their hand. Hell, it’s what we do. No one needed a crash course on it.
Gadiel turns to me, the smirk remaining on his face. “I’d like it to be known that the domini of the southwest may need a review course in the protocol. Two weeks ago, a fallen wasdeported from the west coast district. Not only was he a fallen, but he was a nobleman and a member of my staff.”
Unease goes around the room. Deporting a fallen isn’t forbidden, but it requires a lot of red tape. If I in fact did what he’s saying I did, I’m in a shit ton of trouble.
“Who is this nobleman and what is his station?”I sent the silent message to Hamon, Erazel, and Conah.
It takes them seconds to get me the information I need.
“His name is Xeno. He’s a knight,”Conah explains.“And a record keeper for Gadiel.”
I remember him.
“Raziel, is this true?” Khalid asks, sitting back in his seat. His dark eyes remain on me.
Even though Khalid and I had a good relationship and he assigned me to this role specifically, he would uphold the law if I’d done something wrong.
I sit up straighter in my chair, tugging at the collar of my shirt.
“Yes,” I reply.
The room fills with gasps and murmurs. Whispers of me being unqualified go around. Glancing at Gadiel, I take in the smirk on his face. This is what he’s been so giddy about since I walked in. He couldn’t wait to rat me out to Khalid.
“Khalid, I’m sorry. I will handle the punishment for this act,” Rojun says.
Ham and Era bristle beside me. I turn my attention to our king. His gaze never leaves my face. There is a reason Amir Khalid is the king of the fallen. He didn’t just get the job because of his influence in ending the great war, it’s because even before the war, he was an intelligent and insightful angel. One that ran the greatest army of all time.
“Why did you deport him without proper protocol?”
A slow smile lifts my lips at Khalid’s question. I was waiting for him to ask. Unlike Rojun, I knew Khalid would know there had to be more to the story.
“Sir Xeno had a bit of a gambling problem. Usually that wouldn’t be an issue since most of his money was spent at my casino. But you see, he ran up a gambling debt that he could no longer pay. The debt turned into a blood contract. One he owed to the forsaken Duke Zalex.”
Khalid goes rigid at the mention of the forsaken duke. The power structure of the underworld mirrors what we have here in the human realm. Zalex, is a duke. He’s on the same level as Roth.
A debt is a huge thing among us. Debts are like our currency. When a favor or debt is owed, there is nothing that can be done until it is paid. Trust me, I know all too well how restrictive a debt can be. A blood contract is the highest form of our currency. One only signs a debt by blood if they are really in a bind.
“I didn’t trust what Zalex would ask of him, so I thought it best to send him back down to the underworld. I had planned to speak with you about this at our next meeting.”
There is a reason the forsaken dukes are not allowed on the earth realm. They can’t be trusted. If we find out someone is working for one of them, or, father forbid, the forsaken king, we are to send them to the underworld expeditiously.
Khalid turns those dark brown eyes toward Gadiel. The smirk that was once on his face is long gone.
“Did you know any of this?” Khalid asks.
This time, I smile. There is no right answer to that question. If Gadiel says he knew, it means he purposely brought this bullshit up to Khalid and could be accused of conspiring with a fallen duke. If he says he didn’t know, it means he didn’t do his research before he wasted everyone’s time.
