He looked chic in black slacks, a turquoise shirt, and black braces clipped to his waistband. His sleeves were rolled up like last night, but half his dark hair was slicked back and secured in a bun, leaving his bone structure fully exposed to be admired.
“Are we ready to begin?” the wispy-haired man asked the others.
Murmurs of assent drifted down the line.
I forced my jaw to relax and stared up at them. Waiting.
“Miss Onyx,” old wispy said. “My name is Walter Regent. My family is one of the founding families of Nightsbridge Academy. These are my colleagues and members of the Superna Coterie: Xander Crax, Tower Master for the Therianthropes. Portia Reign and Heidi Embercrest, joint Tower Masters for the Arcanus. Constance Selethis, Tower Master for the Haematophages, and Yash Vitra, Tower Master for the Unwoven.
Yash… His name was Yash… Wait…had he also said Reign? Portia Reign. Sorcerer. I knew her, or knewofher, because I’d been a Reign once. For a little while. This woman, Portia, was my stepfather’s sister, although I’d never met her.
She knew who I was, though. Knew the truth about her brother’s illicit marriage, and the curl of her lip told me that it still disgusted her. It was hard to believe she was related to my ex-stepfather. He’d been a soft-spoken, gentle man, with warm, open features, and this woman, with her pointy chin and flint eyes, didn’t resemble him at all.
I offered her a closed-lipped smile, and her mouth pinched as if she’d tasted something sour. I imagined punching her in that pinched mouth of hers. Imagined the spray of blood a good, hard hit would produce. Maybe I’d knock out some of her teeth.
“We have your petition,” Walter said, snapping me out of my blissful thoughts. “And theLexterms by which you made it. They clearly state that bloodlines must be preserved and extinction prevented. You are the last of your bloodline, and so it may seem that you are within your rights to petition the block on your bloodline’s power be removed. However, I believe you may be unaware of the full terms of the sentence passed all those years ago.”
My scalp prickled, and Polina’s smirking face filled my mind.I hope they execute you.The possibility that I’d made an oversight spawned a fist in my chest.
What had I missed? “What more is there? What are the full terms? I’ve checked the written accounts. I didn’t see anything more than the blocking spell.”
“There is more. I assure you. Papers were signed that night and?—”
“Then where are they? Why aren’t they in the official logs? I need to see them.” I was clutching at straws now, but the bubble of panic in my chest was making it hard to breathe.
I hope they execute you.
“Of course, we can get you a copy,” Walter said. “But for the purposes of this meeting, Yash Vitra will provide an eyewitness account.”
Eyewitness? Wait—he’dbeenthere? But that would make him…old…Old Vitra…
“Yash, if you would…” Walter gestured to Vitra to begin.
“The original punishment discussed was an eye for an eye,” Vitra said. “A bloodline for a bloodline. But there’d already been so much death that we could not stomach causing any more, and so aTardus Morswas agreed upon, along with a block on the Onyx power.”
Tardus Mors…a slow death? A prickling sensation crawled across my scalp.
They’d sentenced my bloodline to a slow death. A sentence that ended with me. Which meant, they had no obligation to give me my power. So why bring me here? Dark foreboding bloomed in my gut.
“And the rest of the terms?” Portia said smugly. “Remind us of those, Master Vitra, please.”
Vitra exhaled through his nose, his expression flat, as if this whole thing was tedious. “AMortem Finalemon the last surviving member of the bloodline, to be carried out if they have not procreated by the age of twenty-two.”
Mortem Finalem…final death… A chill swept up my spine. No, that couldn’t be right. I must be misunderstanding the term. “What does that mean?Mortem Finalem…what does it mean for me?”
“It means we can execute you,” Portia said, a small smug smile curling her lips. “You’re twenty-two in six months, and it’s impossible for you to birth a child before then, so…” She shrugged a slender shoulder, nonchalant, as if execution were an everyday, blasé topic.
I hope they execute you.
Polina had known about this. She’d bloody known. “You can’t do that. You can’t just kill me.” My breath came faster, panic swelling in my chest. How could I stop them? I was powerless and at their mercy. “This was a trap. You brought me here under false pretenses. You were never going to let me stay, were you?” The pity on Walter’s face burned through me, and hot tears of rage pricked at my eyes. “You make me sick. The lot of you, sitting up there on your platform as if you’re better than me. Fuck you. Fuck you all, and?—”
My mouth snapped shut of its own volition, jaw tight as if someone were holding it closed. I tried to force it open but couldn’t.
What was this? What was happening to me?
The air buzzed, pressing down on me until my legs buckled. I hit the ground on my knees, grabbing at my face, desperate to release myself from the invisible force gripping me. Terror burgeoned inside me, growing larger and larger, a desperate scream battling to free itself from my throat, heat gathering behind my eyes with the force of an impending explosion.
Was this it? Was this my execution?
