I’d seen no one in my cell after the curera’s visit.But I understood these judges had the power to order my execution.
The other prisoners were tense, coiled for action.Their eyes darted everywhere at once.
So did mine.
Even while sliding free of my birth-mother’s womb, I would bet I came out throwing kicks and punches.This world only gave you what you fought for.
The fae judge leaned forward in her seat, clutched the gavel, and smacked it against her palm.It clanged as if striking a metal bell.
More than a dozen people and creatures crammed to either side of the dais.Faces flushed from the heat, they looked at the judge.
“Order, I call order,” she said.
The onlookers rustled with impatience.They were already quiet.
She clanged her gavel again.
The man beside me muttered under his breath, “Shove that gavel up ‘er fat, entitled ass, that’s what I’d do.”
The prisoner to his other side snickered.
The judge rang her gavel more.“Order, I say.Order!”
The man beside her cleared his throat.“We are now in order.”The more reasonable of the two, then.“The Magistrate of Zaraga”—my ears perked—“Territory of the Domdurron Empire”—my blood chilled—“is now in session.”
Zaraga … territory of the Domdurron Empire.The title rattled around my mind, unable to find a home.
“We are gathered here on this blessed day, thanks be to the Fuerin…”
“Thanks be to the Fuerin,” echoed the audience.
“…for a reading of the charges levied against these five individuals.”
What of the demigods?The Fuerin were dragons of ancient lore.No one knew if they’d ever even been real.The demigods, however, were very real.And very vengeful.They wouldn’t like being ignored.
“They stand accused of various offenses against the empire.”
Someone booed, drawing my eye.A tiny figure with a fuchsia head and clad in leather flew behind them.She zoomed to the front, where she hovered with a blur of wings.
The man recited each prisoner’s name and his attributed offenses: a combination of violation of the dominium, faithum interference, larceny, fraud, breach of contract, and assault, which had resulted in two deaths in one instance.
The audience shifted from foot to foot, scratched, picked, or fanned themselves.
“The soldiers responsible for capturing these four prisoners have waived their right to read the charges.For our final, however, we have Cosette Darling, Investigatory Soldier of the Blue Band, here to read her prisoner’s charges.”
The audience jostled and peered at me.
Cosette flew in front of the dais.There she turned, clutched her hands at her back below her wings, andahemed.
“I hereby charge Prisoner 300033,” her voice boomed, causing two children to giggle.Cosette ignored them with an upward tilt of her chin.“She has refused to supply her name.I charge her with three counts of aggravated murder, three counts of assault against a soldier of the realm, resisting arrest, two counts of littering a public beach, two counts of improper remains disposal, one count of loitering?—”
“Oh,come on,” I mumbled to myself.
“Parvtits are the worst,” Shove That Gavel Up Her Ass empathized beside me.
Cosette tacked on, “Two counts of feeding without consent, two counts of feeding outside an officially approved feeding den, one count of failing to report her sänglure nature to the proper authorities, and…” She sucked in a breath.“…one violation of the dominion, for refusing the very existence of the Domdurron Empire, and another violation of the dominion, for denying the authority of Emperor Junot of the Domdurron Empire.”
No one made a sound, not even the gavel-happy judge.
