Page 62 of The Honor Society

Evidence: The Dean’s List, page seventy-six, documentation of four separate accounts of attempted drugging of food and drink with narcotics. Testimony of butler. Witness Abigail Sterling.

Charlie stops. “Mom?” She jerks her head towards me. “My mom witnessed Jude’s mom get murdered?”

I swallow the bile in my throat. “He said he’d do the same to her if she ever told. Why else do you think she hid who your father was? To protect you. She was too afraid to go to the Sterling line and tell the current seat holder what had happened. It was technically, a Horseman issue anyway. Every person has a reason behind their behavior however stupid or erratic, she warned you away not because she didn’t love you, but because she loved you too much to find out the truth, that in the end, she was a coward, in the end your father was a murderer, in the end, you were collateral.”

Charlie wipes her tears and keeps talking, ignoring me, maybe ignoring the feeing in her gut that tells her I’m right. She keeps reading.

Judgement: Unpardonable.

“Good.” She sniffs.

Balance: A life for a life.

Collection Date: September 17th.

Today.

“It was my first.” I whisper as I pull up to Jude’s father’s house, the one he keeps here in the city. “In The Ledger.”

“First?” She asks.

“First entry.” I clarify. “I wrote that down two years ago and never looked back. Edward was my first and I promised myself I’d survive to see the day it came due.”

“Why become The Proctor?” Charlie asks gently. “Why not a firefighter?”

I almost laugh. Almost. “I was only following the rules.”

“You could have ran.”

“I’m not one to run, Charlie. I like the monster too much to let fear keep me from facing it. We’re here.”

She holds The Ledger out to me. I push it away.

“Keep it safe for now.” I say. “I don’t like getting blood on the clean pages.”

I know Jude is already here.

Just like I know Edward has to know his time is close, maybe not this close, but close. I walk calmly up to the front door. He has two men in suits guarding it.

I stare them down.

They stare me down.

And immediately part, letting me through. One opens the door and I walk in like I was just invited for tea.

I smell cigar smoke followed by popcorn, barbeque, ah he must be watching a game. The sound of a whistle going off and clapping follows. I make my way into the dark theatre room and look around, “Cozy.”

Jude eyes me from a lonely spot in the corner of the room nursing a beer I’m sure he’s had for the last two hours. He needs to trust me. Lilah is safe, even if he’s miserable, maybe it’s better that way. His eyes look past me to Charlie, slowly he stands.

She’s fine asshole. Her mark means I own her body and soul, they’d have to gut me alive to get to her. Why can’t he see that? That I’m her shield? Why do I feel so insulted that I seem to be someone he wants to eliminate?

“Edward, Edward, Edward, we finally meet in person.” Edward’s jaw flexes. He’s aged. His normally slicked back dark head of hair has shots of silver. His brown eyes darken when he sees Charlie behind me. It wasn’t planned but it isn’t hurting the situation at all now that I think about it. Let him feel the guilt and shame over what he tried to cover up, over what he did. In front of both of his biological children. One he abandoned, the other he put in prison to protect himself. Some father. Some human.

“Why are you here?” Edward crosses his arms. “The Convocation is in another nine days. I have no beef with The Chancellor, and last I checked, I haven’t murdered anyone,” he winks, “recently so⁠—”

“--Lie.” I grin behind the mask “You’ve murdered plenty, but there’s one specific victim who’s blood fucking cries for justice, care to guess who?”

“I’m sure you’ll tell me.”