As far as I was concerned, they’d better not do one thing to jeopardize their release from Vanguard.
They stopped moving when they reached the center of the dais, standing between Louis and Kristoff and facing the room. All of their gazes touched on me – I was surrounded by chattering idiots who thought they were looking at them – and smiles crossed their four handsome faces, full dimples gracing the room. Damn, I was pretty close to joining the pathetic souls behind me and fanning my face to lessen the heat.
Instead I blew them a kiss, and my eyes leaked for a split second before I pulled myself together. I was just so happy to see them alive and not hurt. Louis was also staring at me, a knowing smile across his face. Which I was kind of wanting to slap. He should keep his opinions to himself. I did not need anyone coming in and upsetting the status quo.
The clock ticked over and the doors were slammed shut. The securement spell washed over the room in a haze of yellow. The trial started out normal enough. Kristoff started laying out the evidence against the four of them. There was something from each, including Tyson’s spell, dragon claw marks, a flaming circle from Jacob, and apparently the murdered vampire and Maximus had had a raging argument last week outside the training hall. That was the motive apparently. Seriously, the Compasses argued with everyone … it was not a killing offence. Of course Kristoff then dropped the main bombshell.
“The argument in question, of which I have six witnesses who testified under truth…” His slimy voice gave me the worst feeling in my gut, like period cramps only a zillion times worse. “Was about Jessa, and whether she was free for Markus to pursue. This upset Maximus Compass to a visible degree, and we believe at the time of his death the victim was on his way to the Lebron home. It was at this point he was intercepted by the four Compasses.”
Ah shit-damn. Not good, everyone knew the Compasses were hot-blooded over me; it was starting to look more like a real motive. Kristoff had a few more bits and pieces of evidence, like the magical trace forensics which found proof all of them were at the scene. Hair, scent, even a fingerprint. Of course that was to be expected – we all were there, we’d gone and gawked liked morons when we should have stayed home. But too late to worry about that now.
When he was done, it was Louis’ turn. I could see Jo and Jack tightly gripping hands as they watched their boys. Each of their sons had touched their brow and saluted two fingers to their parents upon arrival, a supernatural sign of respect. They followed that with a wink for their mother. Their confident swagger did not seemed to have lessened Jo’s worry.
I’d always known that Louis was impressive, but today … damn, he was unbelievable. Piece by piece he tore the previous argument to shreds. His voice was calm, his stance relaxed, and as always the power that rode his words spread throughout the entire room. He had alibis for three of the four – Maximus was keeping that day’s events to himself. Probably involved a woman. Louis then pointed out the obvious regarding evidence at the scene, which wasn’t even the kill spot. I could see Kristoff’s face darkening as each of his points were turned around. If the quads were cleared of charges, he would look like a fool, since he was the one to make the huge scene and arrest them on trumped-up charges. Finally, after a tense fifty minutes, all the facts were in, and all we could do was wait for the magical verdict.
It took forever. I fidgeted, twitched in my chair, and drove Mischa crazy by knocking into her.
Finally the book delivered the folded paper. Kristoff reached out and took it. He looked down for a second before flipping it open.
No expression crossed his features. He lifted his head.
“Not guilty,” he muttered, before throwing aside the white slip and storming off the stage.
The hall erupted with delight and uproar. I wanted to jump up and down and scream a little, but before I lost my shit I turned and took in the room. My eyes alighted on the many faces. Most looked excited, but there were a few with neutral or unhappy stares. Kristoff obviously, and Giselda, who’d been near the back of the room; also a troll, two pixies, and another vampire – who was vaguely familiar but I couldn’t remember his name. Strolling closer to them, I tried to scent the emotions, but there was so much going on in the room I couldn’t get anything clear. There were traces of guilt and anger coming from someone, but the mess of emotional resonance made it impossible to pinpoint who.
Finally I decided to just catalogue each face closely, for future reference.