Page 7

“Is it?” She tipped her head, curved horns catching the orange glow of the chamber’s lights.

Yes, of course, they are terrible and backward and they have a sun for all the gods’ sakes , he thought, but kept his mouth shut not least of all because his fangs threatened to show.

“Each human will be placed in appropriate working and living environments to keep them busy. We all know what they say: idle minds are a cultist’s playground.

” Fineril snorted lightly at the proverb, and Harrox readjusted awkwardly in his seat beside her.

Severath flicked his gaze to the stone table at the back of the chamber, once an altar but now used to store tomes full of demonic runes.

“But there is the trouble of the one called Ember.”

Severath finally blinked. “The murderer?”

“Yes.” Caution was levied in the councilor’s tone as she leaned forward. “We cannot punish her for a crime that this council hasn’t found her guilty of.”

“She said herself—” Severath snapped his fangs on the rest of that thought. The human killed a man and so had he—dozens, really—but demons and humans were alike in at least one way: neither branded their soldiers for acting in defense of their cities. “So, a trial?”

The Horn of Arbitration shook her head. “That would be unjust without any information about the crime in question. We’ve decided instead that temporarily placing her under home confinement and observing her for violent behavior would be wisest.”

Dread settled in Severath’s stomach at the suggestion that would come next. Well, not suggestion—it would be an order. “But she does not have a home here.”

“With you,” Harrox cut in, voice flat as it filled the chamber.

Fineril’s eyes fluttered upward, and she grumbled something under her breath.

“Apologies, councilor, but best break this kind of news quickly.” He stood and paced behind her chair.

“Listen, Severath, it’s simple: you’re being assigned permanent guard duty over a single civilian.

It’s really no different than scouting the Dreadmoor or patrolling the streets, you’ll just be doing so from your home where you have total control of the environment and your charge. ”

My charge? Her? Severath’s next breath didn’t come, fighting the desire to stand and rail against the madness.

His head throbbed, and his blood seared through his veins, but he only dug his emerging claws into his thighs.

“I feel I must say,” he managed with quavering restraint.

“This is not the best use of my abilities or time.”

“But your injuries.” Fineril’s brows knitted.

“A day or two of recovery is all this will take.”

She flipped through the pages before her. “The healer’s report?—”

“Councilor,” Severath interrupted, surprising even himself with his brashness. “I belong in the field with my squadron.”

“You don’t belong anywhere near the Dreadmoor in your state.” Harrox ripped the parchment from Fineril’s hand and held it up to jab a claw at the script. “Your sight cannot be restored, even by magical means. What good is a marksdemon who’s lost his dominant eye?”

Like the earth had crumbled beneath him and a pit directly to the blazes opened up, Severath felt as though he was falling, down, down, never to find the bottom of the depths of despair that hit him with Councilor Harrox’s words.

He had cut off his squadron when they’d commented on the grievousness of his injuries, ignored the pain as it continued to bloom hatefully in his head, and deliberately mistook Balran’s remorse for simple caution.

I’m sorry, Sev, he heard his cousin say again in his mind. There’s nothing I can do.

“What…” Severath began, voice only cracking slightly before he cleared the emotion away. “What will this new duty entail?”

“Assessment.” Councilor Fineril was quick to herd them all like goats away from a ledge. “You will observe the branded human for potential danger to our city and compose a defense or indictment of her. We will hold a hearing in a month or so’s time.”

A month? But he could just tell them now—she was a killer. Yet Balran’s voice came back to him once again: She killed someone? Why ?

Severath swallowed, hands clenched into fists on his knees. Even if he wanted to be taken off scouting duty, even if he wanted to be an arbiter, even if he wanted to be around a human at all, this decision was just too big. “What if I get it wrong?”

When he looked up at the two, Harrox simply shrugged, but Fineril cracked a half smile. “You won’t, Severath.”

But he already had—couldn’t she see? He’d brought the humans here to begin with. “Understood.”

“You should be proud.” Fineril stood, and Severath echoed the move.

“I do appreciate the importance of what you’re trusting me with, Councilor.” Though he didn’t appreciate the responsibility.

“Not just for that,” she said, taking Balran’s report back from Harrox without giving him a second look. “For what you and the others did, for saving those women from an unspeakable fate. It was not an easy decision to bring them here, surely, but it was the right one.”

Severath nodded because there was nothing else to say, but he unequivocally disagreed.