“I executed her.” I paused there, still having trouble believing it myself. “And we determined that these Grigori elders could not be trusted to carry out this revolution, so we now present them to you for questioning.”
I sat down again, feeling a lot more uncertain about what I’d done, and waited for their accusations to surface. Eubuleus demanded proof of their conspiracy, so we brought in the guard who they’d left on duty. He couldn’t offer much in the way of their scheming, but he did confirm they were meeting in secret and had done so on several occasions.
“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” Dolos asked.
“Lena confessed to it,” Aretha said on my behalf, which was encouraging. “In front of all those present.”
“We knew all along the bloodborn witch was a traitor,” Hyas spat, not bothering to hide his contempt, “and she corrupted our Grigori elders with her seduction.”
The prisoners then took turns pleading their cases. All of them denied any involvement in the conspiracy, but none of them gave a compelling reason for why they were meeting in such a clandestine nature.
“Why was the shadowborn not detained?” Eubeleus demanded.
“Because he was the one who alerted me to this deception.”
Orcus then gave his own account, which matched mine. There were comments made about the untrustworthiness of the shadowborn, but before it dissolved into complete chaos, Aretha corralled the crowd back to order.
“The remaining members of the Tribal Council have voted, and we find the accused guilty of treason for conspiring against the revolution. You are permitted to visit your Grigori relations while they are imprisoned, but you are not allowed to free them. Please choose your tribal representative carefully. We’ll be convening again after lunch.”
The mob dispersed with murmurs of this being a coup; I suspected the panicborn Dolos was fueling their discontent.
“Could have gone worse,” I said to you afterward while scouting the room for Lucian. No sign of him or Stefan either. “There wasn’t much argument against me executing Mater.”
“No, there wasn’t,” you said, still with a brooding look. I laid a hand on your arm. You were tenser than usual.
“What’s up?”
Your eyes met mine briefly. “I am no longer in the mood to entertain threats on your life.”
I smirked. “I think you’ve gotten that message across loud and clear.”
“I certainly hope so.”
You went back to sweeping the room, assessing those who you believed might pose a danger—Orcus, Eubuleus, Dolos, and now Lucian too.
So much for building alliances and making friends.
