Page 133 of Taken By the Aurelian Warriors

I feel nervous as I remember the medical report Taggar showed me. It was of the merchant who’d been admitted to hospital.

Broken arm. Four cracked ribs. My triad had brutalized him – that much was obvious. They’d beaten him, and then forced him to sign over his Orb-Deposits.

The rest of the crimes they are being investigated for are white collar – but what if there are more things Taggar doesn’t even know about yet? What if my triad did something truly unforgivable?

“We did what we had to do.”

Down in the courtroom, Brennan replies to the charges calmly. I just wish I could feel his aura – and know histrueemotions. I’m certain he must feel like I’ve betrayed him.

Maybe I have.

I don’t know how this courtroom drama will play out. My father and Gerard are sitting down below me, and I know they’re glaring at my triad hatefully.

I pleaded with Gerard to keep an open mind – but he can’t help but see Brennan and his triad as the men who’d stole me from my bed and put me in danger.

My own father will be staring at them with an even colder anger – looking at them like the Aurelians are a useless trio of objects; to be discarded now that they have fulfilled their purpose.

“You dishonored the Aurelian Empire,” Taggar responds to Brennan’s defense, “and you’re going to pay for your crimes. Do you deny going against independent planetary law to secure Orb-Rights through illegal hostile takeovers and corporate raids?”

Brennan sits tall and confident in his seat. Lazar is shifting in his own chair; while Otho remains calm.

The normally pacing, brooding warrior is sitting uncharacteristically still – like he’s at afternoon tea, not facing a verdict that could destroy his life.

“I do not deny anything,” Brennan responds, “but I never did anything illegal by Imperial Law.”

“Nothing to break the Empire’s law?” Taggar counters. “So, youdenythat you broke a merchant’s arm and ribs to secure a business deal?”

Lazar leans forward. “Fredick Galino, your honor. That’s his name – and, no, we do not deny it.”

“But wedoplead extenuating circumstances,” Brennan continues.

“Out with it,” probes the Lieutenant dryly. There’s no mercy in his voice.

“We signed an agreement for the Orb-Rights to a mine he owned. Afterward, he forged a new agreement, for a lesser mine. We only used force to get the original agreement – the lawful one – back.”

Gods.

They’re animals. They might have had a justification for it – the merchant wasn’t innocent – and yet, to do something so violent?

I don’t know how I can deal with that.

That admission even gives Lieutenant Taggar pause. He looks at my triad in a new light. I’m sickened to see that the Aurelian agentapprovesof their actions.

“So, this merchant tried to swindle the Aurelian Empire? Is this correct?”

There’s a change in his tone. This question isn’t designed to convict my triad any longer. In fact, he’s proud of them for fighting for the Empire – for getting the justice they deserved.

My heart suddenly beats quicker, and I feel the first tendrils of hope well up inside of me.

I can get over the brutal past of these men. As long as they don’t spend the next three centuries in prison, wemightmake this work.

“That is correct,” states Brennan, his voice booming out over the courtroom speakers.

“But you have no proof of this?”

“He would have come to the Aurelian Empire if he was innocent, your honor. We’d have been locked away already.”

Taggar considers these words, pausing. He stands still behind his podium, not even speaking.

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