Page 185 of A Soul to Embrace

“You’re lucky you arrived when you did. I was able to wrangle the other councilmembers from their sleep for you,” Kusai stated under Mericato’s directive. Jabez figured it was because the first meal was close to being served. “You should feel gracious that they were so willing to begin your trial straight away rather than making you wait.”

Jabez’s feet paused for a split second when the urge struck him to spin around and punt the man in the forehead with oneof his horns. He managed to catch himself and continue walking, but fury simmered beneath the surface of his skin.

“Are you stating I should feel gratitude that you didn’t lock me within the prison they kept me in for years?” he asked, his tone rumbling with hostility.

He glanced over his shoulder to sneer at the man, letting some of his fangs show his displeasure at the thought, and Mericato’s gaze instantly fell away. He straightened his blue tunic before letting out a solemn expire.

“What happened when we were–”

“Save it,” Jabez stated, snapping his face forward. “I don’t give a shit about your feelings – if you hate me or feel regret. It changes nothing. You were a coward then, and it appears you still are, since you can barely even look me in the eye.”

“You’re forgetting who I am in this city now. It would be best not to aggravate me when I’m attempting to be sincere. Your admittance must be approved by an overwhelming vote by the council, and you’d be wise to filter your words.”

Jabez bunched his fists, thankful his arms were bound, or he may have captured the man’s scarred throat in his palm and crushed it. He glanced at Zylah, who was unaware of the negative conversation as she inspected every new thing in their environment with adorable curiosity.

The reminder of her presence soothed his anger, and he released his clenched fists.He’s right. I can’t let my hatred of these people get to me.He would need to remain calm, collected, andquietmost of all, when he wanted to spew threats and insults.

If I say one wrong thing, they may not allow her into the city.They were now a pair, incapable of being separated through her Mavka bond. If he was rejected, then so was she.

As they climbed higher through the white wooden hallways of the central tree, his features twisted in tormented misery.I can’tbelieve it came to this.And when they reached a set of doors that looked similar to the city’s gates, a horrible, soul-crushing nostalgia twisted in his stomach.

How many times had he seen these doors? How many times had he gone through them, hoping to be freed from his cell permanently – only to be denied? That was until his mind had broken and he’d turned rabid, barely able to be taken from his prison cell without a muzzle due to being a high bite risk.

His memory of those times was fuzzy, and perhaps for good reason. He didn’t wish to remember himself in such a pathetic way. Starving without feeling hunger, frothing at the mouth to swallow down just a drop of blood to sate himself.

The ore in the double doors turned molten as it sucked away from the tree of resilience’s design, and they slowly swung open.

Inside, the roof glowed with different planets that reflected the suns and Otholla’s cycle around the realm. Since it was nighttime, Otholla’s mana stone was the brightest to highlight its strength currently in the sky.

The conference chamber was a pyramid in shape, the walls reaching the centre point in the ceiling where the lights were. Behind them, shutters of gold metal sheets could be moved to allow sunlight to filter through glass. In the middle of those lights, a purple flag hung down with three emblems stitched in silver thread: the synedrus council’s emblem, the Elysian people’s universal symbol, and, finally, the city’s marking at the bottom.

Like everywhere within the central tree, the walls were white from its bark. Gold ore filled in the spaces between trunk notches and branches.

Two guards led both him and Zylah to a recess in the middle that allowed all eighteen councilmembers in front of them to view them freely. A guard told him to kneel on the obsidian floor,even though he’d already begun doing so, and Zylah chittered nervously as she copied him.

“It’s okay, Zylah. This is normal,” he reassured, watching Mericato take an empty seat to the right.

The guards attached ropes from their bindings to hooks in the ground behind them to stop them from moving too far. They were truly worried Jabez would attempt to hurt the councilmembers if they were doing such a thing.

The translator and the two guards both left the room, keeping it strictly confidential to just the defendants and the council.

In front of them were three curved sections of solid-gold tables that had elegant silver branching designs in them. Each table could hold six people, and they could be pushed together to create a perfect, enclosing circle. Currently, they were spread out.

He began to roam his gaze across the many faces, but instantly paused when he met a pair of red eyes. His brows furrowed deeply before he quickly scanned those currently boring their gazes into him and noted there weremultiplesets of red eyes.

“Since when have Demons been councilmembers?” Jabez asked, cutting through the cold silence with a twisted lip of disbelief.

“Much has changed since you were last here, Jabeziryth Kneis,” an aged voice stated from just behind him.

His back straightened from its familiarity, and he glanced over his shoulder to meet the green eyes of an old and withered man. His blurred features cleared in Jabez’s memories of decades ago, as he recalled the man named Zerik. Jabez’s nose scrunched in disgust, and he licked the inside of his mouth in agitation.

“You’re still a councilmember, despite looking like you belong in a crypt, so I wouldn’t saythatmuch has changed,” he stated darkly, spinning his head forward to ignore him.

“There is a term for Demons who have been accepted into our society. They are called Delysians,” an elderly woman’s voice rung out to his right. “Please ensure you respect them by calling them by their proper titles.”

He turned his head in her direction and narrowed his brows when another face in his memories became clear.Laele too?Well, shit. This didn’t look good for him.

Although, when he did drag his gaze across the councilmembers he could see, only Zerik, Laele, and Mericato’s faces were familiar. That softened his shoulders, especially since a few looked young and may not properly remember the chaos he brought on his final day within the city.

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