There was a reason I always said Talley was the smartest person I knew.

“Tell me,” her royal evilness said, “would you confess to Seeing no ill will in the devil himself if he was standing here?”

“Excuse me?”

Sarvarna screwed up her face into a condescending smile. “Oh, I didn’t mean it as admonishment.” And I was in the running for the Heisman Trophy. “I was simply alluding to your exceptionally altruistic personality. I wouldn’t doubt you could find the good in even the most putrid of souls.”

“I know evil when I See it.”

Stop it! I mentally screamed at Talley. Don’t provoke her, you crazy girl.

Sarvarna kept going as if she didn’t register the insult. “But would you in a person you had grown alongside your whole life? Would you recognize evil in your best friend?”

“Scout isn’t evil!”

Sarvarna started to say something, but Stefan put a hand on her knee, silencing her. “I think Seer Matthews has told us all she can,” he said. “Hoplite Hagan, are you prepared to testify?”

Charlie bowed his head, his eyes closed. “With all due respect, I have forfeit my life to the accused. It is against our custom for me to speak for or against her.”

No one seemed to know how to respond to that. Sarvarna wrinkled her eyebrows at Stefan, and Lizzie whispered “Is that true?” so loudly to Mischa everyone in the room heard.

“You are truly a noble Shifter,” Stefan finally said. “What a better world it would be if everyone had your knowledge of our customs and the honor to adhere to them.”

Charlie dipped slightly lower before rising back up to his full height.

Stefan templed his fingers together. “I suppose that leaves you, Potential Donovan. Are you capable of speaking without prejudice about your sister?”

Jase’s eyes met mine, and I felt the rusty knife he’d shoved into my back twist. “She isn’t my sister.”

I decided right then and there that Sarvarna would die for the smug smile spreading across her face.

Never once did Jase lie during his testimony. Instead, he gave the truthful answers of a person willing to please. Was the late Mrs. Donovan a Thaumaturgic? He didn’t know, but her parents did wield a great deal of power in the human world. Was the accused’s Changes normal? They followed the pull of the moon and caused the same amount of pain, but the speed with which it was accomplished was shocking. Over and over again he stated the facts in a way that suggested I might be what they accused me of being. And over and over again my heart broke.

When the Alphas finally grew tired of using Jase to torment me, they allowed the three of them to sit down.

“Does anyone else wish to speak before we make our ruling?” Stefan asked in a tone suggesting it was the same type of rhetorical remark as the “speak now or forever hold your peace” part of a wedding ceremony.

Toby, being Toby, ignored the implied sentiment and stood up. “I would like to address the council, if I may.”

“Come forward, Tagmatarchis Hagan.”

Toby walked forward, did the whole bow thing, and then took a deep breath before speaking. “I offer myself as a guardian for this girl.” He took another deep breath and his hands shook. “I will take her under my care and my watch, alerting the Alphas to any questionable behavior. I am willing to forfeit my life should she harm another Shifter in any way.”

Of all the things said over the course of the evening, it was Toby’s words, said with a tremor of nerves and fear, that almost brought me to tears.

“No,” Sarvarna said without even the pretense of thinking it over. “You have shown poor judgement where this girl has been concerned from the beginning. Instead of turning her over to us the moment you knew of her unnatural abilities, you gave her a territory of her own. You are too emotionally attached to operate as a fit Pack Leader in this regard. So, no. We will not allow her to be taken under your watch. I do not wish to wake up dead by her hand, thank you very much.”

“How do you wake up dead?” Thankfully, I muttered it softly enough Stefan had to ask, “What was that?”

I cleared my throat and opened my mouth. When nothing but a creak came out, I did the whole throat clearing thing again. “I was just asking if I get to speak in my defense.”

Sarvarna flipped a strand of hair back over her shoulder. “We really aren’t interested in anything you have to say, Thaumaturgic.”

“What was the point of all this?” My voice was eerily calm considering the havoc taking place on my insides. “To humiliate me? To break me down just to watch me crumble?” I took a deep breath and pulled back my shoulders, refusing to fall apart for them. “This was never a trial to see if I was guilty or innocent. It was a show, your own freaking Hunger Games orchestrated to prove your power while entertaining the privileged. Well, no more. I’m done. Pass the flippin’ poisoned berries.”

The look the Alpha Female threw my way was normally reserved for crazy street people. “Poisoned berries? Am I supposed to know what you’re referring to?”

Only if you’re literate. “Sentence me. Now.”

Sarvarna stood. After a barely perceptible sigh, Stefan followed her. “You know,” she said, “this could have gone differently.”

“How?”

“You could’ve begged. Groveled. You could have petitioned another Pack. I’m sure the Matthews would have found a use for you.” I shuddered at the thought. “But no, you had to stand there as if you deserve our mercy. You spoke as if you were not only our equal, but superior in some way.” She slinked towards me, stopping at what would have been just out of my reach if I had use of my hands. “You’ve shown us your soul tonight, and it is not one that can co-exist with the Shifters and Seers of this world. Therefore, to protect those under my care, you are sentenced to death.”

Chapter 28

I knew it was coming, had known it was coming for weeks, but still my knees turned to jelly and my heart exploded in my chest. Bob and Cory barely managed to keep me from hitting the ground.

I wasn’t the only one having a bit of a reaction. There was a lot of muttering and movement going on around me, but no single voice broke through my haze of complete and utter panic. I was completely cut off from my surroundings until someone prodded me forward.