Chapter 27
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
JESSE
The Council chamber hadn’t changed. Wooden risers curved around walls that flickered with torchlight. The barrel-vaulted ceiling might have been the oldest in London.
The floor was scrubbed clean, but no amount of scrubbing could erase the dark stains from the stone. Sometimes I wondered if the elders kept it that way on purpose.
Caleb sat in a wooden chair in the center of the chamber, his spine straight and his hands in his lap. No more than twenty feet separated us, but it might as well have been a thousand. The guards sitting on either side of me ensured I wasn’t getting anywhere near him.
Stefanos and ten of the other elders occupied the first row of risers. Eight men and two women, they were as silent and unforgiving as the stone around us.
The walk to the chamber had given me time to build a case. By the time we’d arrived, I’d torn it apart myself. Caleb had attacked Welch. He’d broken Cross’s nose and snapped his arm. The elders wouldn’t care that he’d been provoked.
It was better to focus on the positive. Caleb had been uprooted from everything he knew. He’d weathered more change than most people experienced in a lifetime, and he was thriving. He was resilient, smart, and funny.
He was mine.
The door at the top of the stairs opened, and Nin entered.
Every head turned.
Power swept into the chamber like a dark wind. In my mind, my wolf went still and alert. The temperature plummeted, the air turning brittle and sharp. Caleb’s eyes widened as she descended the stairs.
A human looking at her would think her beautiful. Over six feet tall, she resembled a runway model with her lithe build and striking features. Her dark brown eyes appeared black. A long sheet of midnight hair fell to her waist, the glossy strands glinting in the torchlight.
But the thick, ropey scar around her throat was her most arresting feature. I’d heard only fragments of the story of those who’d tried to behead her. The only thing I knew for certain was that Nin had ensured they spent years dying.
She stopped a short distance from Caleb. Sweat dotted his forehead as he stared at a spot near her feet—or tried to. Slowly, his head lifted, and he grunted as he fought the battle and lost.
“Impressive,” she said, torchlight reflected in her black eyes. “I can see why Jesse is enamored.”
Anger twisted my guts. I wasn’t enamored. That word was too small and fleeting to describe my feelings for Caleb.
Nin studied him, the suggestion of a smile on her lips. “You didn’t expect a woman to be head of the Council.”
He swallowed. “I guess I wasn’t sure what to expect.”
“An honest answer,” she said. Then she raised her voice. “You were sired by a rogue. Our laws are clear. We do not permit rogues to live.”
Desperation rose hot and wild within me. I gripped the edge of the bench and squeezed. I’d been running from this moment since the night I tracked down Caleb on the jogging trail. Now it was here.
I couldn’t intervene. If I moved, Stefanos would stop me before I left the risers.
So I held still and tried to remember how to breathe.
Nin turned and looked directly at me. “You deserve to be punished as well, wolfseeker. But having seen the two of you together, I believe watching the boy’s trial will be punishment enough.”
I was on my feet before I could think better of it. “You can’t—”
“Sit down,” Stefanos snapped, and his power wrapped around me and slammed me back to the bench.
Nin returned her attention to Caleb, ignoring my outburst as if it was beneath her. My wolf whined in my head. Every part of me wanted to move, to charge down the steps and put myself between her and Caleb. But Stefanos had given me one warning. He wouldn’t give another.
Staying in my seat was unthinkable. It was also the only thing I could do for Caleb.
Nin extended a hand toward him. “We all have fears,” she said. “Let’s have a look at yours.”
He paled, the sweat on his forehead glistening in the torchlight. His chest heaved as his breathing picked up.
“S-Stop…” he gasped.
Nin watched him, her dark eyes lightening to smoky gray.
“Stop!” Caleb yelled. He gripped the chair’s arms, his knuckles going white. His jaw worked. The scent of burning tires filled the chamber.
My wolf thrashed in my mind. The bench creaked under my hands, wood threatening to give.
Caleb sobbed.
Then he screamed.