Chapter 13
A lot happened over the next few weeks and most of it good… Like a surprising amount.
Very surprising which worried me because nothing ever went that well.
First, real charges were filed against the two reporters who put their hands on me in front of Morrigan’s gates.
They had to do community service as their punishment—but a lot of hours—plus take a new Harassment Prevention Training that the wives of the council were sponsoring.
The teachers were certified humans to show how much more their world had progressed and we were lacking.
Good.
To be fair, I was also fined because I wasn’t allowed to silence people like that.
Freezing them was forgiven since I’d been grabbed and scared for my safety with what had been going on.
But silencing them all like that… Yeah, I had to follow the rules too and they were allowed to say disgusting things to me and get in trouble later.
However, it was a minimum fine, like very small because Jasmine made the point that the adults knew I couldn’t just circle away like others could when being harassed. Plus, they physically blocked me from getting to security and help.
So I think it was like parking ticket to humans. Totally worth it for the response to what I’d said live on the news while they’d all been silenced. The average witch—and even warlock—was disgusted at how I’d been treated… And they weren’t being quiet about it anymore.
Some of the top-tier families making public comments that they were glad to hear that I was back on the marriage market now that I wasn’t damaged goods was met with swift and harsh rebuke.
It shocked the shit out of too many of them and several doubled down that the “plebs” should learn their place.
Yeah, that didn’t go over well either. Jean jumped on the chance and made it clear that any woman of the Shaw bloodline—Millen last name or any other—wasn’t a mare for sale and disgusting men should learn their places. Her popularity shot up because of it.
It made me conflicted given my feelings about her, but at least it was helping our society.
On the topic of my conflicted feelings… Conrad Hanson.
I still couldn’t talk about him or his punishment.
It really was the best the council could do without raising more questions.
He was convicted of the big ones—breaking into my room, so it was clear that he hadn’t been there before and we weren’t involved.
Sexual assault to reinforce he was in the wrong and nothing was between us.
Threatening me and whatnot. I honestly didn’t get into all the details and list. It wasn’t the big one of stealing sealed council hearings and records and threatening to expose them, threatening my life unless I serviced him and… Yeah, so it was hard.
But at least he was locked up and would be for years, unable to hurt me.
He wasn’t allowed to have any visitors and the council all agreed everything was magically locked to his mind.
Councilmen Reid and Oliveria demanded it be done or they would out what really happened and let the chips fall where they did.
That helped.
What made it worse for me?
Councilman Hanson’s popularity rose. He wanted me under control, the council’s pet goddess witch and to force his son to be my priest and he was now popular for how he’d handled all of this.
He gave a press conference saying he was destroyed that his son had taken the wrong path and he’d failed as a father.
That he’d not been able to balance his role as a councilman and with his personal life better.
That it was his greatest shame that he didn’t see it sooner and how much his family had suffered because he had been focused on our society and justice.
People ate it up. They were impressed at how humble and contrite he was to accept responsibility.
People were fucking applauding his decision to take a sabbatical from ruling on cases and focus on his family.
He was working on an archiving project with a team that the council always put off but would be removed from his normal duties until he felt he could balance better.
That going forward the council needed that and breaks and hopefully people supported that.
They did. I was glad for that and people were seeing the council in a better light instead of the top-tier families but… Yeah, I wasn’t thrilled about the spin on the bullshit. Not when I knew the truth and how six of thirteen would have allowed Conrad to own and abuse me for power.
So it hurt. It fucking hurt a lot.
I couldn’t even discuss Councilman Hanson or those others. They had thought they would resume their sessions like nothing had happened. I was pretty sure several people still had ringing ears from the long rant of yelling profanities I had in response.
Tracey laughed. Jasmine simply blinked at me.
Winter had clapped.
Mr. and Mrs. Oliveria looked at me like they’d never seen me before—along with Link and Taylor.
Yeah, it was like that, but I felt fucking justified.
But at least those other councilmen have been pushed to basically handling traffic court with the expansion of the council estate being worked on.
Two new smaller hearing rooms are done so they’re basically getting the cold shoulder from the big cases and responsibility until they “pull their heads out of their asses and realize they’re supposed to be the good guys. ”
That was what Taylor had said they’d decided. I was a fan, but I worried that doing that would only make them misbehave more. Powerful people didn’t like to be called on their shit or told they were doing anything wrong.
Or so I found. I saw the potential for it to backfire, but I had enough on my overflowing plate to handle.
I was grateful when one of Taylor’s guys suggested we do some sparring while he was glamoured as Conrad. Apparently, he needed to work more with his left side and I needed… We knew what I needed.
It was great fucking therapy. Really, it was. Even just getting to slap away his hands coming for me over and over and over again was fucking cathartic.
Oh, but we learned to have someone stand by who could heal.
Yeah, whoops. I’d gotten scared and sent an energy blast at him and it had been bad. Luckily, Rita had been at the house and I gave her the power to help since she was trained. I could do basic healing—most could, but that was like putting pressure on a cut or how humans took an Advil.
Really, having healer training was way different. It could be from—to put in human terms—having EMT training like Link did, to a nurse or a general doctor who saw too much. Then there were specializations that came with hefty costs so like the human world from what I knew.
Rita was like a general doctor if she could pass the test with the magic level from what I understood. So definitely great to have around in a pinch.
I did also talk to Taylor about what I noticed at the Hanson estate. As much as I hated them, I didn’t want it on my conscience if something happened and I doubted it was just them. He rolled his eyes and said I was preaching to the choir, but he was just a pup they didn’t listen to either.
Well, okay then, but I’d been responsible and it was off my shoulders. I probably shouldn’t feel that way, but… I was a good person.
No, probably more an idiot? Maybe not because Mrs. Hanson was trying to talk to me, and from the way Mrs. Oliveria kept hinting it might help, I had a feeling it was to apologize or something.
Later. I could deal with her guilt or issues later. Right now, it was about me and it was fair to say that. I thought so at least.
The sparring helped more than to get my aggression out about Conrad and work out my feelings on the whole situation.
I felt more confident in my sparring and the guy was impressed how well I was getting the moves and fast. He said I was acing what most human recruits would do at the end of training and I hadn’t put in the same time.
Yay?
But also people touching me was better. Much better.
I couldn’t have them grab me out of the blue and they were all being careful about that, but it was okay when I saw it now.
Really, it was the reaching for me. I tried not to be down on myself about it because I knew I’d been through a lot, but it seemed like an overreaction to what happened.
It wasn’t all that happened and the mind wasn’t linear and compiled. I felt like I got it, but… I didn’t like get it. Shocking at eighteen, right?
School was definitely better. I think a lot of everyone took to heart what happened and how wrong what was said on campus truly could be. People were taking what Coach said as law and… Lost in their own bubble of bullshit and toxic that place could be.
I saw the guilty looks from faculty even if they never had the guts to say anything to me. I heard it from some of their familiars, and I knew several had apologized to Wyatt that they’d spread the gossip against him.
Fuckers, but at least it was something.
Same with too many warlocks apologizing to Winter that they’d talked shit about his girlfriend.
Seriously, I needed to get tattoos or something—find a way to become more threatening looking because I was giving those guys death looks and they didn’t even take note of me like I was just a cute mouse.
And I was way more dangerous than Winter given what I could do to their familiars. Which made it hysterical that their familiars kept apologizing and a few brought me gifts to smooth things over.
Of course people talked about it on campus, but they all assumed even the familiars knew I had the magic to make treats and were trying to bribe me. When I told the people in my inner circle the truth, they thought it was amusing.
But weren’t happy the warlocks didn’t apologize to me.
Witches were apologizing to me in droves. Well, maybe not that many since the majority of campus were warlocks. The majority of witches on campus had apologized to me.