“Well, that is definitely a point in your favor,” she said when they pulled apart. “See you tomorrow, counselor.”
With more than a little reluctance, he released her. “Be good.”
The smile she flashed him was all sass. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“Brat,” he called after her, not without affection.
Laughing, she spun and walked backwards, amazing him that she didn’t trip and fall in those needle-thin heels. “By the way, I’ll need some footage of you for my exclusive. I’ll be bugging you to set up some time with my camera guy. Don’t dick me around, counselor.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Shaking his head, he turned and headed the opposite direction back towards the office. His walk took him past the courthouse, a path he’d traveled hundreds of times during his time in DC. But tonight, his steps slowed, seemingly without his consent, until he stood once again in front of Lady Justice, her golden scales now glowing ever so slightly in the moonlight.
Was it his imagination, or was the glow getting…brighter? Riveted, rooted to the spot, he watched the shimmer grow to a glare until the light surrounded him, engulfing him. Warmth filled him, and some distant part of his mind whispered to run, that something terrible was happening.
But it didn’tfeelterrible. It felt…right. As if this was what every moment of his life up till now had been leading to.
My child.
Where was the voice coming from? Nobody else was here with him, here in the light. And still, he wasn’t afraid.
You are the keeper of balance, the holder of the scales. Through you, the world will know peace and justice if you lead with a kind heart and a level mind. But let not your heart be corrupted by the glitter of gold, or your world will fall.
The light exploded, erupting into a shower of shimmering diamonds all around him. And then he was standing on the courthouse steps one more, staring up at the marble statue, as if nothing had happened.
As if his entire world hadn’t just shifted on its axis.
What the actualhellwas that?
* * *
Still reelingfrom his strange encounter with Lady Justice the night before, Cyrus opted to skip the morning office routine, spending the first part of his morning at his kitchen table reviewing his closing arguments for the Compton case while the television played in the background.
It was the somber tone of Chadrick’s voice that had him tuning in more closely to the morning horoscope.
“We are saddened to announce the death of the United States Libra Master, Zora Rashid. After twenty-two years as the head of the Libra Guild, Zora passed away last night at the age of one hundred and five. As of this report, there is no confirmation as to who the next Libra Master will be, so for all of you Supremes out there—stay sharp.”
With a frown, Cyrus switched off the TV and gathered up his papers, stuffing them into his briefcase without his usual care. Unease tickled the back of his neck, but he shrugged it off as an overreaction. The odds of someone as young as himself being picked for Guild Master were low. Next to impossible.
It didn’t help that he had no clue what being “chosen” actually entailed. Some of the Guilds were very open and transparent about their selection process, but not the Libra Guild, for some reason. Perhaps the secrecy was meant to keep things “fair”? Whatever the reason, he’d never actually witnessed the selection, he’d just woken up to the announcement of a new Master one day and that was that.
Aries had a sword, that much he knew. What the sword did, exactly, he wasn’t sure, but every picture or video he’d ever seen of any of the Aries Masters depicted them with the sword at their side, so he assumed it had something to do with how the Masters were chosen. And some of the Guilds, like Scorpio, were so secretive he didn’t even know for a fact that theyhada Guild. In theory, every sign was supposed to have one, but nobody knew where Scorpio was headquartered, or what they actually did for the world. All that secrecy fed into the hundreds of conspiracy theories floating around the internet about the various Guilds. They’d been around so long, the truth of their beginnings had been lost to history, so all anyone knew was that they existed within nearly every country on the planet and some of them had significant influence over world affairs.
Take the Libra Guild, for example. They were active in almost all negotiations between countries, whether it was simply hammering out a new trade deal or brokering peace between warring nations. Many countries also relied on the Libras to debate new laws before they could be voted on. It was part and parcel of being born under a sign renowned for fairness and balance.
Despite their very public persona, he had little knowledge of how the Guild actually functioned. Which brought him right back to wondering how the hell someone was supposed to know if they’d been chosen to head their country’s Guild. Was there an election? These days, he wouldn’t put it past the US Libras to host a reality show to choose the new Master.
He’d rather gouge out his own eyeballs than be on a reality show.
You are the keeper of balance, the holder of the scales.
But that had just been his imagination, right? None of the Libra Masters had been under the age of fifty in over a millennia, and surely the choosing of the next Master didn’t come down to glowing statues and voices in your head.
No. That had merely been the product of too much wine and fanciful thinking. It was entirely possible it had actually just been a hyper-realistic dream as far as he was concerned.
Stepping out of his townhome, he nearly stumbled backward at the wave of emotion that slammed into him. Anger, joy, despair, melancholy, everything a human being could feel buffeted him from all sides.
Frozen, unsure of what he himself was actually feeling under the avalanche of emotion, he scrambled to put up his shields. Bit by bit, the storm faded, leaving him shaken and confused in its wake. Even more so than whatever it was that had happened last night on the courthouse steps, this sudden explosion of emotion rocked him to his core.