I stepped into the four-by-four space.
“You’ll be met by a Magiguard on the other side,” Ursula said.
The doors closed on me, and then the room lit up bright white, and the world shattered. When my vision returned, I was staring at the metal doors as they opened to reveal a plush, maroon-carpeted corridor bordered by tall potted plants. Another Magiguard ushered me out and led me a little way down the corridor to a wooden door. The scent of magic was less here. Just a tinge in the air. How far had the port brought me? Where were we?
But my questions died on my lips as the door was pushed open and I caught sight of my outlier counsel.
Azazel.
Chapter Two
Azazel pushed back his chair. “Fee.”
The door closed behind me, shutting us in together, but that barely registered because Azazel was here.
I took a step into the room, devouring his huge frame with my gaze. Dark smudges sat under his eyes, and he was paler than usual, so the scar that ran diagonally across his face stood out starkly. His shirt was rumpled, and two empty Styrofoam cups sat on the table in front of him.
He held out his arms. “Come here.”
My throat pinched, tears pricked my vision, and then I was bridging the distance between us right into his waiting arms. He held me tight to his chest, his cheek pressed to the top of my head as I breathed him in, absorbed his heat and allowed it to soothe the ice that had settled in my veins ever since last night.
The Loup inside me stirred. Interested, but I ignored her.
I gripped the soft material of his shirt and closed my eyes. “You came for me.”
He pressed his lips to the top of my head. “I’m sorry I couldn’t see you sooner. The Magiguard have their own laws. But I’m here now. I’m here, and we’re going to get you out of this place.”
I pulled away and looked up at his stubbled jaw. “What’s going to happen to me, Azazel?”
He looked down at me, his silver eyes bright in his face. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you, Fee.” He ran his thumb over my bottom lip, and my stomach flipped. “I won’t let anything hurt you.”
I believed him.
“Now, tell me everything that happened when I left you that night.” His jaw flexed. “I should never have left you.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
He turned his head to the side, looking disgusted with himself. “Yes. It was. I’m meant to protect you.”
I cupped his cheek and forced him to look at me. “You’re here now.”
He sighed and conceded with a nod. “We have an hour before the hearing. Let’s go over the events of that night.”
He pulled out a chair for me. “Sit. I’ll get you some coffee.”
I grabbed his hand as he made to leave. “No. Don’t go. Just stay with me.”
I felt the Loup’s irritation at my show of weakness, but she didn’t say anything.
Azazel crouched so he was eye level with me. He placed his huge hands on my thighs and locked gazes with me. “Do you trust me?”
He’d been the most distant, the most inaccessible of the guys. He’d been the closed-off one, but out of the guys, he was the one I felt safest with, the one I trusted the most, be it the soulmate thing or not.
I nodded. “Course I do. Go get coffee.”
He looked like he needed it.
The door closed softly behind him, and I slumped in my seat.
You’re connected to him…We are connected to him.
He’s my soulmate…Our soulmate, I guess.
The beast was silent.
He makes us feel safe.
She was processing this.
It’s all right to be vulnerable with him, she decided.
I couldn’t help but smile.
The door opened, and Azazel returned with two Styrofoam cups. He set one in front of me and then pulled up a chair next to mine.
“Tell me what happened, Fee?”
And so I did.
Azazel listened, never once interrupting me, and when I was done, he sat back in his seat. “We find Lucas’s soul, and we find a way out of this. In the meantime, you must accept Grayson’s claw. Cora explained this?”
I nodded.
“You have Judge Flora. She’s fae and a fair woman. I filed a statement about the hooded figures, the dagger, and Peiter’s death. Uri filed a witness statement about the figures. There is no doubt they exist, but—”
“You need evidence they were there the night I killed Lucas.” Saying it out loud made my chest ache. “We need Lucas to tell them what happened.”
“Yes.”
“Where do you think he is?”
“Spirits who die violently get disoriented. He’s probably just drifting. But Conah and Mal are searching for him. We will find him. I promise you.”
Azazel looked at his comm with a frown.
“What is it?”
“Grayson should be here by now.”
There was a knock at the door, and a Magiguard popped his head around. “Five minutes.”
“Thank you, Ren,” Azazel said.
Oh, God. It was about to happen. “What if they don’t grant me bail?”
His jaw ticked. “Then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
I couldn’t stay here another day. I couldn’t be locked up again.
The beast inside growled in agreement.
The knock came again.
Azazel pushed back his chair and held his hand out to me. “It’s time.”
The courtroom was an imposing chamber with tinted windows. I’d seen courtroom dramas, but I hadn’t expected the outlier court to adhere so closely to the human courtroom layout. The décor was a calm beige and brown, and there was a raised platform behind which a woman with sharp, intelligent features sat.
The spectator seats were empty. Azazel looked worried, probably wondering where Grayson was.
What if he didn’t show?
As much as I hated the idea of being a member of his pack, however temporary, the idea of being rogue and a target for every Loup in Necro was even worse.
Azazel ushered me up the walkway and to the left behind a desk with two chairs. I took a seat, aware of Judge Flora’s intense perusal.
Azazel remained standing.
Ursula entered the room from a door to our far right and took the spot at the table to the right of us. She didn’t look at me or Azazel but kept her gaze straight ahead. Azazel had explained that I was being prosecuted by the Outlier Prosecution Service, or the OPS, as they liked to call it. Ursula was representing the human interest in this case. Lucas’s interests, and the fact that I’d broken outlier law by killing him. The outliers remained hidden to the general human public by keeping to the law. The do not kill humans law. Yes, there were creatures like mouths and Dread that lived outside the law, but that’s why we hunted them: to minimize the damage they did.
The rest of the outlier population adhered to the law that humans were not to be harmed, and anyone who broke it and was proven guilty was given the harshest sentence. Death.
I was technically guilty. I’d done the deed but not intentionally. I hadn’t been in control, and that was our defense. We just had to prove it. Otherwise…
The room was silent, empty except for us and a small man sitting at a computer screen to the left of the judge.