The crowd roars. They want to see it. Even members of the council are cheering.
“An interesting play, Summer Walker. Entice the crowd and the council with a fight and perhaps they will find you innocent just to see the battle. I think they’re all smarter than that,” the high accuser retorts.
“End this trial now!” the prime grunts. “This has gone on long enough.”
“I agree!” his wife hisses.
“Long enough?” I shout. “So this is the justice my mother told me about? Let’s rush through it before anyone’s opinion can change? Well, before you judge her, you should know she walked away from the beach for me but she refused to leave her people. There were countless times that we could have run and never looked back, but she stayed because she hoped she could help you.”
“She should have run!” Minerva shouts. I look to her face and see the blood lust in her eyes. What a horrible creature, a bottle of poison wrapped in sparkly paper. Unfortunately, the crowd agrees with her. They pound on their chests and shout at us in their severe language. Bex cringes, and I suddenly realize how terrifying this must be for her. Unfortunately, we can’t walk away.
“Let us end this,” the prime cries.
“I am not done!” I shout. The crowd is muzzled. Not a word is spoken and not a breath is taken. I won’t have their attention long, and judging by the look on the prime’s face I might not be alive much longer, but Terrance told me to be a pain. I used to be really good at it back when I was a wild thing.
“I have a question,” I continue. “There were twenty Sirena sent here. One died, two didn’t show up to the beach. That leaves seventeen members of your nation who followed the rules. They did as they were told. They started families, and when the Alpha arrived, they abandoned those families to return to your nation. Where are they? Can anyone point them out? High accuser, do you see them in the crowd?”
“They were captured by your government!” he snaps.
“Well, there must be a plan to rescue them, correct? You wouldn’t let them be tortured and experimented on, would you? So, when are you going after them?”
Everyone’s eyes are on the prime.
“Unless you aren’t going to rescue them. That would be convenient for you,” I snap. “With them out of sight, you don’t have to feel bad about how the prime has failed.”
And then I cross the sand and stare right into his face. “Or am I wrong, Your Majesty, and there is a plan to rescue them?”
The prime burns holes into me with his eyes.
“Please, let us know when we will see the others.”
He’s not angry. He’s not amused. He simply doesn’t care.
“That’s what I thought,” I say. “You’re going to let them suffer because they remind you of what a complete loser you are. And look at your poor son, Fathom. Look at the scars all over his body from fighting your battles. Where are your scars, old man?”
The prime’s blades pop out of his arms, and he leaps at me. I fall back, onto the sand, knowing that soon I will feel the cuts and the blood and the pain.
“NO!” the high minister shouts. “The accused has not been sentenced!”
The crowd boos, but the prime crawls off of me. “I’ll get you soon enough,” he whispers, then returns to his seat.
“End this now, high accuser,” the priestess cries.
The high accuser nods. “Summer Walker, how do you excuse your treachery?”
“I have no excuse. I love my people, but I would do the same thing again in the exact same way if I had the choice,” she says as she helps me stand.
“You are unrepentant?”
My mother smiles at me. “I am. When the choice is between my family and this prime, it is an easy one to make.”
Fathom’s father snarls.
“Then it is my duty to proclaim to the council, our prime, and all those assembled that this woman is a criminal and a traitor to the Alpha. It is my opinion that she deserves punishment, and I lay that duty upon the council now.”
The high minister nods. “Then what says the council?”
Nor stands and looks at my mother. “Daughter of Sirena, I knew your mother. I was there the day she and the rest of your family died. I know that she taught you right from wrong, and I know you admit your crime. Your sentence is as clear as the sky, but sometimes life presents a problem that neither right nor wrong can answer. In this, you and I are alike. You are guilty of making the wrong decision in the eyes of the prime, but I believe it was well intentioned. I proclaim you innocent.”
The audience grumbles, but there are no angry outbursts like before.
“That’s good, right?” I whisper to my mother.
“What say the rest of you?” Nor calls out to the council.
Minerva snarls. “There is nothing to contemplate. She is guilty, and anyone who says otherwise turns his back on us as well.”