“You sit there at the end and don’t say a word,” Rasmussen instructed, and his voice carried despite the low volume.
Other mages turned to look at me as I found a spot at the end of the bleacher, barely able to see Vivian. I was sitting next to a thin mage who was probably in her later years. Rarely had I ever seen a mage who looked so advanced in age. Her hair was steel gray, but she had crow’s feet around her eyes. Other than that, she looked like everybody’s grandma. She wore the black robes that Rasmussen and Kierston favored, and with a start, I realized this was the Council of Mages. I was sitting in the middle of the Council of Mages.
I almost soiled myself.
“Pucker power,” Rose whispered in my ear, and I had to fight to not snicker.
I was chewing on the inside of my cheek when the mage next to me leaned over. “Alpha Wright, you’re a tad underdressed for the council meeting.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I whispered back, “I came as soon as I realized what was happening.”
“Well, your manner of dress won’t matter much. They’ve all but decided her fate for raising a hand to one of yours and breaking the great treaty.”
“She’s to be put to death?” I whispered softly.
“That’s the way it’s looking,” she said, and when she saw my expression, something softened in her face.
Rasmussen took the center spot on the platform, his voice booming over the crowd.
“Unless we have any more witnesses to call, the time has come to call for a vote. Will the convicted receive a gentle mercy after a time in which to put her affairs in order, or will she be executed for her crimes here immediately?”
“Oops, I must have nodded off during the first vote,” the mage whispered.
“No witnesses?” Rasmussen called.
I stood slowly. There was a popping sound, and Rose poofed in front of me about five feet away, visible for everyone to see.
“Don’t do it, boss!” she pleaded, “It’s already too late.”
“Rasmussen,” I called in a loud voice.
The assembly had already started turning to see who had stood, but Rose and I had gotten everyone else’s attention. Rasmussen turned to me, a furious glare on his face. Mage Kierston was… smiling?
“What is it, Wright?” Rasmussen thundered.
“My apologies, sirs, and madams,” I said, half bowing as I walked toward the podium, “for my tardiness and for my lack of education on how these matters work. I was led to believe that Mage Vivian Sparks was under trial for breaking the treaty and attacking an Alpha on his own accorded territory. Is this accurate?”
“Yes, and for the preventable injuries and deaths of that incident and the incident here in which she engaged your pack on the mage floor.” Mage Kiersten’s smile faltered a little .“Do you wish to give testimony?”
“I do,” I said as confidently as I could.
“It actually won’t matter at this point,” Rasmussen cut in. “She’s already been convicted.”
“Without interviewing the alpha she attacked?” I asked them.
Rasmussen started to say something and then closed his mouth. He was an expressive person, and his hands had been raised up as if to gesture or point. He dropped his hands to his sides, then made a motion for me to approach.
“I would like the entire assembly to know that I’ve already gleaned the information from Wright’s memories directly, with his permission. Furthermore, his bonded servant offered her complete memories as well. I read them myself, and the treachery involved is absolute. I do not understand why you are here, Thomas Wright. Your words will not make her any more dead than she is going to be anyway.”
Ah Hah! A misunderstanding and an opening. For a mind reader, he had made an assumption, and we all know what assumptions are.
“Assume much?” I whispered as I got close to the podium, and he motioned for me to come up and stand between him and Mage Kierston.
At the far end was a mage I’d seen before, in the melee in the office above. I thought he was one of the mages that Rose had pixed. Whatever that was. He was dressed like the others, except he seemed to be muttering curses in Rose’s general direction. She blew him a kiss.
“Boss, this isn’t a good idea, you know that, right?” Rose said softly, still flying over my right shoulder.
“I know.”
“Well, you’re a dumbass and, if they end up offing you too, I’m going to crawl inside that big honey jar of yours and not get out for a while.”
That was touching. I was used to her sarcasm and snark, but she actually cared?
“Then I’m going to Ireland where the guys are hung like Clydesdales and—”
“Shhh,” I hushed her as I got up there.
Her words had started to carry, and there were snickers in the crowd. There was some sort of spell effect that amplified voices from up here. I’d have to be careful.
“Vivian,” I said.
She looked up at me, tears streaked down her face. Her olive complexion looked ashy and gray. She had already given up. She was resigned to her fate.
“I’m sorry,” she said simply.
“Well, that’s it then,” I said, clapping my hands together.
“What’s it?” Mage Kierston asked.
“She apologized to the Alpha in question in front the entire Council of Mages… wait, this is the entire council?”
“Half,” Rasmussen said. “What’s your point?”
“Oh... I forgive her. She’s awesome. Don’t kill her.”
“You really are a dumbass,” Rose said, her voice echoing around the chamber loudly.
Somebody tittered and then there was outright laughter in some spots. Maybe thirty or forty mages in all and a good half of them were smiling.
“You are here to give witness testimony, not to run a comedy routine,” Rasmussen told me sternly.
“I’m being serious. You should let her go. Yes, she wronged me, but I accept her apology, and if it happens again, it’ll be me she answers to, not the treaty or the Were council. Me. I will take responsibility for any actions against my pack.”
Rasmussen stood there stunned, his mouth agape, and Mage Kierston shot me a smile, nodding. That was when I remembered that Vivian was her niece… and JJ, when he’d been at his worst, had thought the Aunt was hot, while Vivian had the hots for JJ, but now JJ was with another—
“I think we should consider the wishes of the Alpha in the matter of the treaty,” Kierston said after a moment.
“I don’t think that applies. Wright is a Mage, an honorary Alpha. This is—”
“If it’s an honorary title, then the conviction should be overturned anyway, shouldn’t it?” I snapped back.
He looked at me in utter confusion. For a mind reader, he was off his game. The surprise had his mind reeling, and I had to wonder if his magic worked much like mine. With iron concentration. Without the concentration, I couldn’t tap into the futures where my sight took me.
“Even though it is an honorary title,” Rasmussen said after a moment, “this is unprecedented, and you don’t represent the Were council.”
“No, but I do,” a voice thundered.
I almost broke my neck turning. Walking down from the left of the bleachers, all the way from the top, was a man wearing buckskins. He was pale and somewhat plain looking. His wife, however, was dressed in a similar fashion and when she started walking down behind her husband, I could see she was darker complected. Her black hair shone under the magical light above us.
“I was wondering if you were going to give testimony or were just hear and to bear witness,” Mage Kierston said.
“Looks like both,” Carl said, coming my way.
I could feel the power emanating from him. It wasn’t magical, but it was something I could feel in my chest. It was pushing at the fight or flight mechanism in my body, and part of me wanted to dig in, stand my ground, to push back against—
I shook my head. Those were mostly instincts, not thoug
hts. It had been happening quite a bit since I’d won the first challenge with JJ, and then again when I’d beaten Morrissey for the Arches pack. I held my ground, and Carl and Yolanda looked up at me. I held my arms open, and they walked up, and both hugged me briefly, one after another.
“We’ll go along with what Alpha Mage Wright has said. Unlike him, I do speak for the Were council, and I feel that such a benevolent action on the part of your governing body might smooth over any rough edges that might occur in any future event. Kind of a get out of jail free card.”
“He’s good,” Rose whispered but forgot everything was amplified, and her squeaky voice sent a few mages off into quiet, polite laughter again.
“I… Are you sure?” Rasmussen turned to look at me.
“Yes,” I said, aware that my amplified voice was carried around the room so everyone could hear me.
I also knew what I said next was going to be remembered and chose my words carefully. “Mage Rasmussen, when you looked into mine and Rose’s minds, you saw only Vivian Spark’s actions.”
“Yes, and I saw that in several instances she tried to murder you. That goes against both mage law and the treaty between the councils.”
“What you didn’t see were her motivations, what drove her to do that.”
I was looking at Vivian who had her head down. She’d stopped crying, but she hadn’t looked at me since the first time she’d apologized. She did now, a hopeful look on her face.
“And how would you know that?” Rasmussen asked. “Given that I’ve just scanned your mind again and already know the answer, let the rest of the assembly know.”
His face had been stern when he’d started talking, but when he did the eye wobble his features had smoothed out before he’d spoken as he relaxed. Good. I felt a glimmer of hope.
“Vivian once initiated a gaze with me,” I said, and there were murmurs from the crowd. “I saw what pushes her. Motivates her. Her entire life is dedicated to being the best enforcer and council mage she can be. There are a lot more deeply personal reasons I won’t get into, but it is my belief that what she did to me wasn’t out of malice, but a feeling of need. I don’t personally agree with her deciding I should die, but I understand the motivations that drove her in the heat of the moment to make that attempt.”
“He’s my boss and some days I want to kill him; he’s a dumbass,” Rose piped up.
“Hey!” I said, forgetting it was all being bounced around the stone chamber.
“The Council of Weres will abide any decision this council makes?” Mage Kierston asked.
“It is our wish to smooth things over. Alpha Mage Wright has done the Were community and my own pack a great favor, not once nor even twice. He’s kept the supernatural from the mortals better than anyone else. Is it any wonder that the most populous territories in the Western United States are so quiet and why the council enforcers are hardly ever sent into the area?”
“That was Wright?” Rasmussen asked.
“In more than one instance, yes,” Carl said. “I think it is because I’ve come to know him a small bit, and I trust his instincts.”
“Thomas, you were on the run for much of your life?” Yolanda asked.
I mentally cursed; she must have the inside scoop somehow.
“Yes, ma’am,” I told her.
“So, it would only make sense to quietly take care of any issue that popped up instead of letting the council crawl all over the area. Isn’t that what you did?”
She should be a spymaster. That was exactly what I had done, and still did when issues popped up. That was why I had been so keen to go on the ‘werewolf’ hunt when Cindy had found tracks. It could have been a rogue, or it could have been a pack that was going through a transition and could benefit from knowing that they were endangering themselves or the treaty.
“Yes, ma’am,” I answered, instead of voicing my thoughts.
“So, in fact, he’s been working as an agent of both councils for a long time, just not in the open. If he says the girl shall live…” She let her words fall off.
“We cannot just let her back into the community with her impulse issues, not with a gift as deadly as hers,” Rasmussen said softly.
“Put her somewhere that she isn’t going to do great harm, give her a desk job. Make her teach kindergarten, make her a flower girl. Don’t kill her, don’t put her to death for trying to do the right thing.”
“Actually, he doesn’t mean that,” Rose piped up. “She thought she had to kill him, he doesn’t actually need to be dead. Even though he’s a dumbass, I’m kind of fond of this dude. Not that she should have—”
“Rose,” I said in a hiss, hoping she’d shut up.
A wicked grin lit up Rasmussen and Mage Kiersten’s face. A look of horror overcame Vivian’s.
“I think we may need to go to closed session,” Rasmussen announced suddenly. “Vivian, you are to accompany the Alphas to the stairwell. Running at this point would be foolish.”
“Yes, Mage Rasmussen,” she said, her voice barely a hoarse whisper, but whatever magic carried our voices, carried hers as well.
I stepped away from the podium and walked in the direction of the doorway we’d entered. Carl and Yolanda held the door open, and I walked outside and sat on a step. Vivian walked out a moment later and stood to the right of the doorway, not quite making eye contact with me. The heavy steel door swung shut, and I was in the hallway with two werewolves and a death mage.
“Shizzna just got for realz!” Rose chirped.
4
“This was a little unexpected,” Carl said softly.
“I know,” I said, my wrists crossed over my knees. “You being here and a member of the Were council shocked me. When did you get in?”
“Flew in this morning. You?”
“Gated in. Ya’ll need a lift home?”
Carl was about to ask, but Yolanda was already nodding, a smile lighting up her face.
“Why?” Vivian asked, suddenly looking up at me.
“I’ve been wondering that myself,” Rose said to the air at large. “Why are Irish faeries hung like they have cucumbers, and why are they the best lov—”
“Rose,” I said, trying not to laugh, interrupting her nonetheless.
“I see the little one still follows you,” Carl said after a while.
“Not for lack of me asking if she wants her freedom,” I told him.
“You’re avoiding my question,” Vivian said suddenly and moved to stand right in front of me.
I looked up, and she was trembling. She’d stopped crying, but I could see the streaks where her tears had washed away a light brushing of makeup.
“Yes, I am. You were locked into that gaze with me also,” I told her. “You and I, we don’t have many secrets between each other anymore.”
“I don’t understand most of what I saw,” she told me simply.
“You’re very young,” I told her. “You’ll understand over time.”
She snorted angrily, and I thought she was actually going to stamp her foot, but she crossed her arms, spun in a small circle, and then flopped on the step I was sitting on. After a minute, she leaned on me. Rose flew in front of me to get some distance as Vivian’s head landed on my left shoulder. She started crying, then the sobs wracked her body.
“This is where you’re supposed to hold her,” Rose prodded.
I looked up, and Carl nodded. Yolanda was giving me a look I’d have to ask Rose about later, but I complied. I wrapped my left arm around her and held her close.
“I thought if I could force a gaze on you that I could see what was really going on with Rasmussen and you,” she said, her body shaking as tears fell.
“What did you see?” I asked her.
“Fear. Lots of fear. You don’t trust people, even when you do. You’ve spent your whole life on the run from people like me, and when you first start to trust me, I go and screw it all up. Not once but many times. Then you show up here after they already convicted
me… and I’m looking at either dying in five minutes or in two days, but I’m going to be killed because I looked inside your head and there was no way I could trust somebody who didn’t trust me and the mission.”
“Yet here I am,” I told her.
She sobbed harder, then before I saw it coming, she decked me in the ribs. It wasn’t a hard blow, but something spontaneous. She started sobbing harder.
“You bastard, why did you come back?”
I looked up at Carl and Yolanda, then over to short stuff who was flying about three feet in front of me. She had her arms crossed and was sticking her tongue out at me.
“Because you were trying to do the right thing. Even if it meant you were wrong and would be punished for it. I might not trust you completely, but I can sure as hell respect you for fighting and living for your convictions.”
Yolanda broke out into a smile, and Carl nodded. Vivian shoved me, making me break my hold around her shoulders, and then pulled a tissue from the inside of her suit coat. She was once again in her MIB uniform, with a skirt. Realizing that I saw about a mile of leg, she scooted even further away. Cindy and I were almost a thing. I had forgotten what effect Vivian had on me when she was near, and she was vulnerable, which made my mind do all kinds of mental gymnastics.
“Easy,” Carl told me softly, “you and I need to have a talk. You might not be a lycanthrope, but you may feel some of the changes that come with being an Alpha.”
“What do you mean?” Vivian asked, looking from Carl to me and then back.
“He knows. It’s in here,” he said, pointing a finger to his collarbone. “It pushes you.”
“I’ve felt it,” I admitted, “sometimes when giving a warning to my small pack or—”
“It’s the command voice,” Yolanda interrupted. “All Alphas have it. It isn’t necessarily a werewolf thing, more like…”
Second Sight: The Rune Sight Chronicles Page 3
