I knew, deep down, that he meant every word.
Thomas stopped speaking, the magical glow that had begun to form in his hands disappeared. He now stood perfectly still, as though assessing the situation and what his best course of action might be.
Tavlor had incredible powers, thanks to his Fae father’s blood, that no-one in the Witching community understood.
Fear crossed Thomas’s face as he realized that he had no idea what Tavlor was capable of.
But he still tried to calm him down with words. “You cannot do this, Tavlor,” he said slowly. “You will destroy hundreds of years of peace.”
His tone was placating, and it pissed me off to the max.
“Peace?” I spat at him. “With all the wards and unrest and inequality among the factions? What peace?”
“We are not here to discuss that today,” Thomas snapped, turning his attention from Tavlor to me.
Oh, my god! Could this guy fucking pick a saner personality to present?
I tightened my fingers into fists. “Then what. Do. You. Want?” I growled through clenched teeth. “Other than my fucking head!”
A whoosh of air flung past me and the room was full once again, but this time with people of the Council. I froze, trying to figure out what was going on and what could be done about it. Were they able to make me disappear the way Thomas had with the regular people of the realm? Like he had with the book?
My father still stood there looking dazed. They’d put a spell on him when he’d entered the room, I was almost sure of it now. He blinked once, twice, as though he wasn’t quite sure what was going on or what had happened to him in the first place.
“Matlock?” I called out, but he didn’t even answer. “Father!”
Nothing. Shit!
“What did you do to him?” I yelled at Thomas, then indicted to the nasty audience we now had. “And what the hell is this?”
I shouldn’t have been surprised that they’d do this to me. To us. Go back on their word for a fair trial. But even so, I was strangely and fiercely disappointed that I couldn’t even trust them to stick to a simple agreement. Was there no hope at all?
“This,” Thomas said, holding his arm out and indicating to the Witches and Warlocks that now made up the room, “is your trial.”
His mouth contorted into a sneer and his eyes were like knives piercing me from all angles. With my father out of sorts and me and Tavlor outnumbered, I didn’t think there was anything I could do at this point that would make a difference.
I pulled up all my magical guards, physical and mental, though I wasn’t sure how strong they would be inside this place.
I was going to have to fight my way out of here, I just knew it, and with the two of us against the rest... Tavlor and I didn’t stand a chance.
Charity, my evil step-mother, stood up from a pew in the back of the room and strolled towards us, my mother’s ancient book in her hands.
So that’s where Thomas sent it. I should have known she was somehow behind this.
“Where did you get this?” she hissed, holding the book out in front of her.
I lifted my chin, fear quickly turning into anger. This woman should never have allowed to marry my father. She wasn’t worthy.
“I’m not answering any more questions until I know what’s going on,” I said. The anger took hold of my words, but there was still a tremble in them I couldn’t hide. “What happened to a trial of my peers? Or a fair hearing?”
When no-one answered, I swung around to face them all.
“So, it’s true. You’re all devious, selfish, self-serving assholes who can’t be trusted,” I said. “You know that what you’re doing is wrong. You know that your own people would turn against you if they knew the truth and still you continue to hide it away from them like they aren’t going to stumble upon it sooner or later.”
I forced myself to take a breath, though my stomach was tight and my lungs felt like they were on fire. “You promised me a fair trial! You said I would be allowed to defend myself! I have it in writing, and you cannot go back on your word.”
“And if we do?” Charity asked, her lips quirked up in a smirk and her tone as nice as pie.
I twisted around so I could glare straight at her.