Vessa brings her fingers to my chest, tracing over the V that she engraved. A single tear drifts down her cheek. I catch it with the pad of my thumb, erasing it. Something else is weighing on her. Not a grievance, but a lingering fear that hums through our bond.
Nuzzling her face against my chest, she finally stills. My arms close around her, securing her there. Exactly where she belongs.
Vessa
Naomi unrolls a scroll that rests on the grand podium. "Vespera Lemaire, will you please stand before the Council?"
The regent’s brow is creased. For a moment, she hesitates, staring at the ruling distastefully. Several of her colleagues share the same expression.
"You will receive no disciplinary action for your role in the lives you took while defending yourself against those who participated in your assault and kidnapping.”
I expel an enormous sigh of relief.
"However," she continues, "given the revelation of your . . . alleged identity, the Council recognizes that we now have something our enemies would kill to possess. You may not be lycan by blood, but you are still subjected to our laws. Your title will remain in place, though if you fail to uphold your duties, it will be removed without chance for appeal. You will be watched carefully in the coming months, Vessa. Don't try to make anything other than an ally out of us. You will need us, should the Blood Master bring war to Immaren. Now that he knows where to find you, we would urge you to start making preparations."
"Thank you," I breathe.
"You are dismissed," she says, then redirects. "Aleksandr Skornokovy, please stand before the Council."
Axe does as she commands, lifting his head high.
"Commander Skornokovy has been spared losing his title and his mate's joint authority. Given his active probation and now a third consecutive violation against the Maxim Minora, the Council is issuing an official suspension. Aleksandr, you are hereby sentenced to one hundred and twenty days of internment at Basza Kovityk.”
Axe's nostrils flare.
Probation? What probation?
"This decision is entirely unanimous."
Nell bites her lip. "This is bad. Really bad."
Jabir scoffs. "Four months is nothing."
His mate stammers. "Not on the eastern barriers of Dyvron, it isn't. That’s where the most heinous criminals from all fivecontinents are shipped away.Basza Kovityk. . . it meanssoul breaker.”
Axe takes a step forward, his face impossible to read. "When do I leave?"
Naomi opens her mouth, but Cecily answers for her. "Given the ordeal your mate has recently experienced and the likely threat of vampire retaliation, we have decided to be lenient, allowing Bleeding Sun the necessary time to adjust."
They are to send word on his arraignment no later than the summer solstice. Only two months, at best.
"This is bullshit," Dominik protests.
"I-I don't understand," I stutter. "Why not serve his sentence in Alban?”
Dominik’s eyes ripple with fear. "They're sending him to that hellhole for a reason. They don't want his blood on their hands. They want to strip him of control. To suffer knowing that he's leaving his pack vulnerable. Leaving you."
"Half of those prisoners are there because of us." Nell’s voice trembles. Jabir wraps his arm around her consolingly, though he hardens his gaze at the regent.
Air dies in my lungs as I stagger back a step, finally coming to grips with what no one dares to say aloud. Axe is being sent there to die.
Anger scorches my veins, rushing up to my heart. Pulse thumping in my ears, I race to the podium. To Axe.
My cry rings out like a thunderstrike. “You can’t do this!”
Naomi scolds me. “This decision is final. As Luna Superior, I would advise you to—” She cuts herself short.
Cecily leans forward, her entire face drained of color. “Goddess above . . .”
