18
Sagan
People were abuzz that I attended the hearing the next morning. It had been a big question all over the media whether I would or not. Part of me didn’t want to. I didn’t ever want to be in a room with Kole ever again.
But that was the reason I made myself go.
I was the Queen of Thovudin, and I would never forgive myself if I let people see me scared over one man. If nothing else, it could damage the reputation of the nation I was the shield for.
So I would never judge any woman for their decision if they didn’t go, but I wasn’t just a woman. I was a ruler and that had to come first.
Plus, I was a stubborn bitch and I wasn’t going to let that fucker win thinking I was scared of him.
I was a bit shocked at who made it clear they were coming to stand with me though. I assumed several of the normal people, and I probably shouldn’t have been surprised when Onyx was standing there ready. But Joris? Thorn?
Ayao?
Like… Really?
I didn’t even ask and off we went. I couldn’t even begin to deal with any of that and I couldn’t stop them.
Well, I could but… What was the point?
So yes, the whispers and murmurs were practically deafening as I approached the courthouse. Even worse when inside and we went through security. Within the courtroom itself people had to behave better, but I could practically feel the looks from Kole and his party.
Elira especially. She wanted my attention like always.
She really was something. And I didn’t mean that in a good way.
“I’m not connected to the internet,” I told the court officer as I pulled out my tablet. “My understanding is that it’s fine then.”
He blinked at me. “You can do whatever you want, Your Majesty.”
I smiled at him. “I would like to follow the rules, Officer. That is procedure, yes?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” The man was so flustered he gave an awkward bow after saying that.
It was hard not to laugh, and a few of my party were doing their best to cover their reactions as well.
“I like the font,” Treena commented as she looked over my shoulder. “Gavriil did a good job.”
“He did,” I agreed, reviewing the auction website. It wasn’t live yet and I made sure it was all on my tablet just for this reason. I would want something to keep me busy—distracted while we waited like this. “I think it’s ready to launch. No more dragging this out.”
Treena snickered. “People would take months to put something like this together. Dragging it out. You’re too much.”
I gave a half shrug. I’d been called worse for sure. I wasn’t sure what I might have responded, but people started standing as the judge walked in. It took everything I had not to glance at Kole and his table to see their reaction when it wasn’t who they thought it would be.
“We win, bastard,” Eloise mocked in my mind, Iris smirking as well.
I kept my mask in place but mentally agreed with my dragons.
“As you can see, the judge that was handling this case won’t be anymore,” Judge Joanna said as she sat and gestured for everyone else to.
“He filed for immediate retirement, and after reviewing this mess I was assigned, I would guess it’s not only the whispers he was found in an illegal gambling den that was the reason. ”
Wowwwwww. Okay, she was really throwing down.
She did a double take when she saw me and stood. “I didn’t realize you were here, Your Majesty.”
“I apologize if that impedes things, Your Honor,” I hedged, not sure why she was playing things this way.
“Not at all, but it will help me actually because there were a few things I didn’t see addressed in here that I would like to know before I finalize my decision.” She gestured for me to come up to the podium where the attorneys normally stood. “If you please.”
“Of course.” I stood and made my way there, noting Benson came with me and made sure to stay between me and Kole and his family as we went. I adjusted the microphone at the podium and stared at the judge.
She sat again and opened the folder. “Has the defendant at any time apologized to you for any of the list of crimes? The faked video—any of it?”
“No, Your Honor,” I answered.
She slowly blinked at me. “Nothing? Not to your family or—has his family?”
“No. On the contrary, I was told not to be petty about the text messages and basically if I was stupid enough to have allowed myself to be photographed nude I would deserve them to be leaked.”
“I see,” she said as she twirled her pen. “So I would assume there hasn’t been a settlement offer made for your civil case?”
“Your Honor, the civil suit doesn’t have any relevance to this plea agreement,” Kole’s attorney said as he stood.
Her pen stopped moving and she slowly looked at him.
“Did you lecture a judge in her own courtroom about the relevance of information that she asked? Are you truly so delusional to have done that? There’s no jury to influence here, counselor.
This is my decision, and I’m missing pieces of information I want to make the decision. ”
“I apologize, but they’re separate cases for a reason,” he placated.
She chuckled and tapped the pen on the desk. “They’re separate because a criminal court cannot award damages or did you not learn that in law school? Should I file a report with the bar association that I think you need to be reminded how the law works and courtroom decorum?”
“No, I apologize again, Your Honor,” he grumbled and sat down.
I waited until the judge focused back on me. “No, there has been no offer, Your Honor. On the contrary, there’s been lots of pushback, and we’ve had to file an additional motion of… I’m sorry, I forget the term. My attorney is handling it.”
“Validity,” she offered. “It’s probably a motion of validity if they’ve pushed back. I assume they filed something to get it tossed out?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” Fraser said as he stood. “I’m read in as the one who originally went to the Alpha with the texts and more. Apparently, minds have changed since that conversation to my face because that did happen.”
“I see,” she muttered, writing quickly. “Thank you to you both for the missing information. I might contact you or your attorney to get more information as I see no input from you which is highly irregular for any plea agreement. I understand you hold yourself to the highest standard as our ruler, but you are the victim. You may sit, Your Majesty.”
“Thank you.” I went back to my seat and shared a look with Fraser who seemed confused as well. We thought she was just going to handle the plea agreement as it was supposed to be instead of the sexist judge who was going to mess with me.
What was going on?
She wrote for a bit longer before looking up and focusing on Kole and then the prosecutor.
“This is in no way a reprimand on what you put together. I cannot imagine the pressure you were under, and given the corruption of the last police chief and apparently the previous judge overseeing—it is what it is and we move forward. I simply wanted it noted I don’t hold you at fault. ”
“Thank you, Your Honor,” he accepted, his shoulders still tense from what I saw since I was sitting behind him.
She focused back on Kole. “That being said, this plea is a joke.” She tossed several papers to the side.
“You’re overly entitled and a glaring example of what’s wrong in Thovudin, Mr. Conley.
” She raised an eyebrow when Kole shot to his feet.
His attorney was fast and actually covered Kole’s mouth.
“No, please, let him make my point on the record.
“I would love to throw him in jail again because the fact he only spent hours there before his father bailed him out annoys me.” She glared at Vex.
“You put on a pony show, Alpha—no, Mr. Conley for these proceedings.
You might truly be disgusted with what your son did, but because of how it looked for the family.
“I was keeping up with this case—most of the nation has been. And you are the reason your son learned this entitled behavior. You apologized to the queen in your press conference, then made it clear you don’t care about any of this.
You bailed out your son and threw around your power to get this joke of a plea agreement. ”
“Sit down,” Kole’s attorney hissed at him, finally getting him in his chair with Vex’s help.
“As such, I’m throwing it out,” the judge continued.
“You can’t do that!” Kole bellowed.
“Yes, she can,” too many people for me to even track said at once.
The judge slowly smirked at Kole. “What’s wrong, Mr. Conley? Did you expect some other outcome?”
Oh shit. I kept my face completely blank, but Fraser covered his mouth and coughed. Kole’s head snapped in our direction, but I pretended not to notice, focused on the judge.
She looked back to the prosecutor. “The previous judge withheld information from you that I will be submitting. Including, but not limited to, a statement from someone in the Conley household that overheard Kole Conley bragging that they wouldn’t pay Sagan De la Rosa a single dollar.
That he’d trained her so well that she was still scared of him and would cave.
“All they had to do was wait out the public outrage and she’d be too worried about people finding her petty and would drop the lawsuit.
So his statement that he never understood anything he did was abusive is now perjury in my mind.
What I’m saying is any plea agreement without serious prison time is off the table. ”
“Your Honor, that’s beyond excessive,” Kole’s attorney argued.
His death was in her eyes when she glared at him.
“Your client committed a capital crime. The punishment for threatening to kill the ruler of Thovudin is the death penalty.
Non-negotiable. To dismiss any of this as trivial and only texts risks the security of our nation, not just the queen.
We recently lost our ruler and you are saying protecting our current one is excessive?