I had been to the Capital only once when Darcy locked me up in prison due to my reckless behavior. As I crossed the shimmering magical border into the Capital realm, my father in tow, memories came flooding back. Some were bad. Like Darcy’s betrayal. But some were good. Like when he let me out, and we ran into each other’s arms and kissed each other until neither of us had any breath left in our bodies. I smiled at the latter memory.
“Why are you smiling?” my father asked as we walked through the pine forest toward the court building. The Capital was situated in the center of the shifter realm, so the climate was the same. The only difference was what this realm contained. It was the headquarters of government, where the business decisions were made, and where Eva worked. It also contained the supernatural court, where treasonous creatures went to trial for their crimes.
“That is none of your concern,” I snapped, shoving him along. “Keep up.”
“You’re thinking about your vampire, aren’t you? He makes you happy. But he also keeps hurting you. Why do you let him keep hurting you? That’s abuse, you know.”
I stopped walking and spun around to him.
“That’s poetic, coming from you. And hypocritical. You abused Mom. You abused me. So you don’t get to lecture me about abusive relationships. Shut up and keep walking or I’ll kill you like I should have back at the ball.”
Thankfully, he remained quiet after that. But that didn’t mean he was thinking about my words and all the retorts he could come back with. The sooner he was sentenced, and his fate handed to him, the sooner I could be done with all of this. I could go home… but where was home? When I came here, I was so sure I was returning to reclaim my throne. But I missed Sydney and the human realm. I missed my job at the newspaper. Heaven forbid. I even missed Carl, my annoying boss.
I shook off the thought. I couldn’t think about that now. I had to get through this trial first.
***
We arrived at the court soon after, and my father was taken off my hands by some of the capital guards. Thank god. If I had to listen to one more word of his… I felt like killing something, but Darcy wouldn’t approve. He was already mad at me, so I didn’t want to push the knife in deeper by doing something else. He would never forgive me.
After this, I had to find a way to make him forgive me, as well as decide where I was going to go. All I knew was that I loved Darcy, and I wanted him with me wherever I went. I made my way into the courtroom a basket of nervous energy. I shook my hands and wrung them repeatedly. I hated this. I wanted it to be over now.
The courtroom was set out like a human one, with the judge’s stand at the front on a raised dais and with a witness stand to the judge’s left. The accused would be seated at the table in the front below the dais. I glanced around the room and saw Queen Amber, Henry with his mate, as well as Ash. Even Emily was present, which was a surprise. She’d probably just come for the satisfaction of watching the accused suffer. That siren thrived on drama.
The room was filling slowly. I didn’t know where to sit, but I would probably be called on to testify when my father took the stand, so I made my way to the center of the room and took a seat in a pew behind Ash. He turned when he sensed me and gave me a reassuring smile. I smiled back and nodded a thank-you. I liked Ash. And I regret trying to harm him a few months back. That was only because people were after him, namely Darcy, and his mate was my descendant. I had to capture them. That was in the past, and I could sense there was no hatred on his part.
“All rise!”
Everyone got to their feet, and I followed suit, as a door opened to the right, and the four accused were walked out restrained by guards. They had shackles on their hands and feet and were taken to their seats below the dais.
My father was the last to be brought out. When he met my gaze, my blood turned cold, and I looked away. Could this be over, like now? Last to walk out was Eva, and she made her way to her seat on the dais, and a guard was stationed on each side of her. She remained standing for a moment and looked around. I suddenly remembered Darcy and realized I hadn’t seen him yet. I looked around and found him on the left side of the room seated beside Queen Amber and the rest of the leaders. He would probably need to testify against the accused too. As if sensing me staring at him, he turned and fixed me with a gaze so heavy it pinned me in place. I couldn’t breathe, and the world started to heat up. I couldn’t do anything except stare back. I felt like a bug pinned to a board as part of some human science experiment. His gaze said a million things. It was hot and seductive, and at that moment, all I felt like doing was running across the room and flinging myself in his arms and kissing the crap out of him until we both couldn’t breathe like we did in the prison cell.
I looked away instead, letting out a shaky breath. I just had to get through this trial first. Holy hell.