by Becca Blake
“Please—this is important. Commander Orion sent me.”
“Orion is perfectly capable of planning ahead and following the lab’s schedule,” he said. “Whatever it is, the answer is no.”
“This isn’t a simple enchantment request,” I said, lowering my voice. “I promise it’s worth your time.”
He considered me, then shrugged. “Alright. You’ve got me curious enough to hear you out.”
This time, he led me into the study across the hall from where he’d enchanted my weapon. While the enchanting room had been neat and organized, with everything labeled and left in its proper place, the study looked like a hurricane had torn through it. The shelves contained an eccentric combination of books, supplies, and old pizza boxes. The journals on the shelves weren’t kept in chronological order, though the dates seemed to go back at least thirty years.
Ed moved behind the table in the center of the room, which took up most of the floor space. He found a small corner that was cleared off enough to rest his arms on. He leaned forward, waiting for my explanation.
I hesitated, unsure where to begin. Orion assured me we could trust Ed, but I’d only met the alchemist once before. What if he was wrong?
“Well?”
“I need your help with something. It’s very important this stays between us.”
He tapped his finger on the table. “Get to the point.”
“Is it possible to make an enchantment that would lock a being onto our plane of existence?”
Ed’s bushy eyebrows raised, and an expression of pure delight spread across his face. He shoved an old journal off the table and replaced it with a fresh one, then scribbled notes in chicken scratch writing I could hardly read. “That is an interesting request. Why?”
“We…” I was sure my hesitation would only annoy him more, but I had no idea what else to say.
“So, this is a top secret request to keep something on our plane? Don’t tell me—I’ll figure it out.” Ed tucked the pen behind his ear and clapped his hands in delight. He paced around the room, mumbling to himself unintelligibly for a few minutes before looking back at me. “Oh, that’s risky.”
“What?” I asked.
“Raxael is much too powerful. I can’t condone this.” He turned his back to me as he looked over his notes.
“But—”
He spun back around to face me. “Ah, but now I have to know if I can do it. How to keep a demon lord on our plane… that’s a challenge that is far too enticing to pass up.”
My mouth hung open as I watched him scurry around the small office, searching for something. I supposed it wasn’t all that shocking to learn he knew about the demon lords, given that the infernal plane was his specialty. But I was definitely impressed by how quickly he figured out what I planned to do with the enchantment.
“I’ll need an artifact with demonic power.”
“A demonic artifact?”
He nodded. “Nothing I have here is powerful enough for an enchantment like this. But it shouldn’t be too difficult for Commander Orion to get something that will work, given his position.”
I tapped my fingers on my duffel bag as I considered that. I hadn’t counted on him needing something from us. Since he’d been suspended, Orion wouldn’t be able to bring anything to the alchemy lab without raising suspicion. Maybe he had something of his own we could use.
My tapping fingers found a hard object… one that might work. I pulled out the cloth containing the emerald and handed it to the alchemist.
“How about this?”
He took the pouch from my outstretched hand and opened it, careful not to touch the object inside. “Where did you get this?”
My only answer was a noncommittal shrug.
“If I’m not mistaken, this is the Arryn emerald. It’s been on our plane for centuries, and—”
“Will it work?”
I wasn’t interested in hearing more of his stories. I only needed to know if it would get the job done.
“It should do nicely.” Ed continued, answering my next question before I asked it. “Six months.”
“We don’t have—”
He cut off my protest with a wave of his hand, then counted on his fingers. “No, wait. Two days.”
I let out a relieved sigh.
“No, that won’t work. One week,” he said, this time with a confident nod of his head.
That was longer than I’d like, but I’d take what I could get. “And you’re sure you can do this?”
“Of course! Well, maybe. Probably.”
The harsh sound of a knock on the door made me jump. Ed shoved the emerald into a drawer and leaned forward on his table. “Who’s there?”
The door swung open, and Marcus Thorne entered the study. He stepped over a stack of journals on the floor. “I’m glad to see you here bright and early, Ed. Though, it’s a surprise to see you, Miss Collins. What brings you here today?” His voice was far too pleasant.
My mouth went dry, and words failed me.
“Riley brought a dagger for me to enchant.” Ed found one on the shelf behind him and held it up.
“I see.” Marcus took it, turning the small weapon over in his hands.
I did my best to keep my expression neutral.
“How long are you expecting it to take?” Marcus asked, handing the dagger back to the alchemist.
“The schedule is quite full,” he said. “It could be awhile.”
“I see. Well, it’s good she won’t need it any time soon, then.”
“I figured I might as well get in line now. Dr. Moran is always so busy,” I said.
“Very true.” Marcus cleared his throat, then offered me a smile that made my skin crawl. “Well, I suppose you should be on your way. I’m sure Ed will call you when your dagger is complete.”
“Right.” I forced a smile as I looked over at the alchemist. “Thank you for your help.”
I hurried out of the study. The pressure on my chest didn’t clear until I was halfway down Market Street on my way home.
I couldn’t help but wonder if Marcus really had been watching from his window, waiting to pounce. It was hard to believe that I was that important, but why else would he have shown up at the alchemy lab so early?
The sinking feeling in my gut told me he knew, or at least suspected, far too much.
And a week was starting to feel like an awfully long time to wait.
***
In the days following my visit to the alchemy lab, I checked my phone religiously for updates from Ed, but so far, there had been no news. Without work to distract us, the waiting was almost unbearable, and the serial killer documentaries Jacob forced me to sit through made it even worse. On the afternoon of the fifth day, we started watching our ninth documentary of the week.
When my finally phone rang, I jumped to my feet and raced across the room.
“Hello?”
There was a long stretch of silence on the other end until Orion let out a heavy sigh. “I got a letter from the Council today. I have to show up for trial tomorrow.”
My breath caught in my throat. “Tomorrow?”
Jacob paused the documentary and got up to join me. “What’s going on?”
I put the call on speaker phone and set the device on the table between us.
“You should come over so we can figure out what to do,” I said.
There was a rustling noise on the other end. “Not a good idea. They’ve got guys posted outside my place. Going anywhere now would raise suspicion. Is there anyone watching you?”
I pulled the curtain aside to see two black SUVs parked across from my house. “Yeah. They’re here too.”
Orion cursed under his breath. “You two have to be careful.”
“Why couldn’t they have waited just a few more days?”
/>
“Listen, Ry,” Orion said. “You should forget about whatever enchantment Ed is making for you and take this opportunity to run.”
“What about you?” I asked.
There was another long silence.
“I can’t leave you,” I said.
“You won’t have a choice,” Orion said. “One way or another, I’m not going to survive this trial. If they don’t kill me as soon as it’s over, it will only be so they can hand me over to Raxael. But that doesn’t mean you should go down with me.”
“I won’t let that happen to you.”
“Riley,” Orion said, this time with all the authoritative force of a commander. “Promise me you’ll run before they come for you. Even if the enchantment isn’t done yet. No matter what happens, promise me you’ll leave Haygrove.”
“I promise,” I said, though I wasn’t sure I meant it.
Orion was the only family I had left, and I didn’t intend to lose him.
Chapter Nineteen
On the morning of Orion’s trial, I put on the same black dress I wore to my father’s funeral. This time, I slipped a pair of gym shorts on underneath and tied my hair back in a neat braid. If things went poorly, I didn’t want modesty or flowing hair getting in my way.
I wanted to bring along my sword, but it wasn’t exactly something I could hide in the back of my dress. Instead, I settled for strapping my handgun to my thigh, where the folds of thick fabric would conceal it. My mundane bullets wouldn’t do anything against demons, but they’d work just fine against other humans if I needed them.
I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Jacob emerged from the bathroom wearing one of my dad’s old dress shirts. “I hope you don’t mind. Everything I own is back at my place.”
“It’s fine.” I checked the time on my phone. “Orion is probably already there by now. We should get moving.”
Word of Orion’s trial must have spread through Haygrove quickly. It seemed as though everyone in town beat us to the town hall, as we couldn’t even see the entrance through the tightly packed crowd. The eager murmurs that surrounded us as we pushed through reminded me of the excitement surrounding evaluations, the way everything in town stopped to await the results.
Except this time, they weren’t waiting to see how many of the newest group of trainees would become Arbiters. They were waiting to see if a commanding officer, one of the most respected men in Haygrove, would be declared a traitor and punished for his crimes.
None of them knew the truth behind what had happened, and they probably never would. No one questioned the Council, so they would cheer for Orion’s death if they were told it was justice.
I thought I might throw up.
We pushed our way through to the front, where a pair of the Council’s personal security guards stood in front of the doorway. They checked for our names on a list of approved attendees, then stepped aside to let us in.
Our footsteps echoed off the high ceiling of the town hall as we passed through the empty entryway. The courtroom was on the ground floor, its huge double doors right across from the entrance, though I’d never seen inside it before. The Council didn’t use it often, as far as I knew, and the few trials I’d heard of weren’t open to the public.
It surprised me to find that it looked more like a theater than a courtroom, with a stage and all. The rows of elevated seating looked like they could seat a couple hundred, though only a handful of those seats were occupied by Orion’s fellow commanding officers. I recognized a few of them. They were friends of Orion’s. Of my father’s.
What had they been told about the incident? What did they believe we’d done?
I supposed it didn’t matter. They would believe whatever the Council said.
Doing my best to ignore the stares around us, I folded my hands in my lap and looked up at the stage. The Council’s ten ornate chairs formed a half-circle around one that stood alone. Between the auditorium seating and the stage, there was something performative about all of it, like we were here to watch a high school play rather than a trial that would decide the fate of someone I cared for.
We didn’t have to wait long before the Council arrived and took their seats on the stage, facing their audience. A pair of guards walked in behind them, each holding one of Orion’s arms as they led him to the lone chair.
He stared forward, hiding whatever he was thinking behind a stoic expression. I tried to meet his gaze, to get him to look in my direction. But if he noticed me at all, he ignored me.
John Grayson, the Council’s leader, rose to begin the proceedings. “We are here today to determine the guilt of Commander Alexander Orion, leader of Unit Seven. He is accused of conspiring with rogue mages against the Arbiters of Shadow and assisting the Oathbreaker Jay Maki in his attempt to ascend and become a demon lord.”
The creaking of chairs filled the silence as he paused to catch his breath.
“He is further accused of revealing classified information regarding the existence of demon lords to his subordinates, Riley Collins and Jacob Thorne.”
I swallowed back the lump in my throat as all the commanders and Council members turned to face us. Everyone in this room knew the truth about the Arbiters of Shadow, and every single one of them accepted it.
When Leader Grayson took his seat, Marcus rose. He adjusted his glasses and read from a slip of paper. “If Commander Orion is found guilty of these charges, he shall suffer the consequences afforded to traitors and Oathbreakers. Further, should Lord Raxael require our penance, Orion shall be given to him as an apology. We can only hope that Lord Raxael will accept this offering and show us mercy.”
I gripped the arms of my chair as though it were the only thing holding me back from leaping across the courtroom. Nothing I did would make any difference. The Council would do whatever they wanted, and no one would believe a word I said. If I interfered now, we would never have our chance to get the enchantment from Ed or bring down Raxael.
Orion would have sacrificed himself for nothing.
Whatever Jacob saw on my face must have concerned him, as he rested his hand on my arm and shot me a warning glance.
I tried to wall off my emotions like I was preparing to channel magic, but even that did little to help. I couldn’t afford to lose control of myself—not here, in the middle of Haygrove’s town hall, surrounded by the entire Council and every commanding officer in town. Any hint of dark magic, even a slight glow on my hands, and I would be as good as dead.
Though the thought terrified me, it was enough to let me regain control. I had to keep my head down. It was the only way to live to fight another day.
As though Marcus sensed my inner turmoil, his eyes met mine, daring me to do something. That challenge was all I needed to right myself.
He wanted me to lose control, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
Once he realized he wouldn’t get the reaction he wanted from me, Marcus continued. “Up to this point, Commander Orion has been one of our most faithful members, as was his father before him, but we must consider the facts. His mission was to eliminate the Oathbreaker, Jay Maki, and to complete the planned sacrifice. Instead, he cooperated with Maki and one of the rogue mages.”
We’d been expecting him to lie, of course. Still, I could hardly believe what I was hearing. The Council ordered Orion not to kill Maki, no matter how badly he wanted to.
From the beginning, it had all been a setup to get rid of him.
But why?
“Additionally, two of the hunters in his unit appear to have been accomplices in his mission. It seems they were only acting under his orders, but we will hold a separate trial for them in a week’s time.”
Once more, I felt the commanders and Council members staring at us, and I looked down at the floor. As I brought my hands back to my lap, my fingers brushed against the hard edg
es of the gun strapped to my thigh. How many could I take out before they stopped me?
Not nearly enough.
In a week’s time, we would be gone, I reminded myself. We just had to remain calm and stay alive until then.
“In the interest of fairness, we must now allow the defendant to speak.” Marcus extended his hand toward Orion, then sat next to Leader Grayson once more.
Orion stood up and looked around the hall at the small audience until his eyes met mine. He held my gaze as though he were trying to communicate something, though I had no idea what it was.
Marcus made a show of checking his watch. “We’re all waiting, Alexander.”
“You know, I had something written out for this. A nice, eloquent response outlining my intentions and the exact events of the evening. But you know what? This trial is a joke,” Orion said.
I brought my free hand to my mouth to smother a gasp.
“This was decided well before I stepped inside this building today. Infernal hells, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was decided before I even left Haygrove for the mission.”
“That’s enough,” Leader Grayson said. “This Council will not sit here and listen to insults and lies.”
“Do you have anything that is actually relevant to say in your defense, Commander, or should we wrap things up here?” Marcus asked.
“The only thing I’ll bother saying is that Riley and Jacob are innocent. They’ve done nothing but follow my orders as their commanding officer. Any wrongdoing on their part rests on my shoulders.”
“No,” I murmured.
Jacob’s grip on my hand tightened, and he shook his head.
Don’t, he mouthed.
“Well, I suppose we can take that as a confession,” Marcus said.
Leader Grayson nodded. “Is the Council prepared to vote?”
They continued down the line in order of seniority, each calling out the same verdict.
When it was Councilwoman Lawrence’s turn to vote, she closed her eyes and gave the same reply as the rest of her colleagues.
“Alexander Orion, the Council of Shadows finds you guilty of—”
