Page 131 of Night's Fall
And he was, usually with very young females.Itwas gross when he was in his thirties.
But they were all majority (that said, they were all only seventeen or eighteen).
“She’s twelve,”Alekseishared.
Lilith and all her fiery friends!
“Ulk!”Igagged.
“And unofficially, they haven’t announced it yet, they’re engaged.”
“She’s just a child,”Isnapped.
“He says it’s their religion.”
“Itwastheir religion, hundreds of years ago.Oh, and that included sacrificing these poor virgin brides to their gods after they violated them.Arethey going to resurrect that too?”Ishook my head in disgust. “Thoseof theEdgealways gave demons a bad name.”
“KingArnaudis feeling a shift to the fundamentals of their faith.Andif he asserts that the bill is discriminatory on the grounds of religion, he has the basis to defeat it.”
“KingArnaudisn’t actually the king,”Ishared my opinion on the matter. “He’sa pretender.Hewas second born.Itwas just that his father was a douche canoe, scraped off his first family and disavowed them when he fell for the wiles ofQueenTatra, and changed succession soArnaudwould have the crown.Butthat isn’t their law.Hecouldn’t do that.Istill don’t know how he got away with it.”
“As such, things have been precarious inSky’sEdgethe last couple of years sinceKingRilanddied.Agreat many of theEdgefeel the same way.PrinceTanyn, the true king, has a lot of support.Andalthough they’re battling this out in the courts, if for some reason that shouldn’t go his way, there are rumors he’s planning a coup.Noteveryone is feelingArnaud’sshift to fundamentalism.Andthe rumor of his engagement to this girl is not popular with many, even if it’s very popular with some.”
“How haveInot heard of this?”
“Do you keep up with current events?”
I couldn’t sayIdid.Socialtapes gave me a headache.Everyonehad an opinion, and most of them weren’t very informed, and those that were, were seriously skewed.Otherswere just plain boring.
And the news was usually depressing.
Case in point, what we were currently discussing.
“This sounds like a mess,”Isaid. “ButIdon’t understand why he’d target you.”
“Because something is wrong withArnaud.Evenif he wasn’t a pedophile, there’s always been something off about him.AndI’vealways been clearIthought so.Ialso haven’t made it a secret thatIsupportTanynin his claim to the throne.However, this is the first billI’veintroduced that’s directed at him and his off behavior, and part of his being off is that he is completely incapable of dealing with someone who doesn’t agree with him.”
“An attack on you would mean war between our realms, andDawn’sBreakandLand’sEndmight have to get involved because they’re our allies.”
“Yes.AsImentioned, this could be far more sinister and concerning.Thereason nothing about your assault was in the brief compiled on you is because there are no records of it.Farlaywasa detective inspector atDistrictSeven.Hehasn’t reported to work since the gallery incident, and no one can find him.Andbefore he vanished, he did not file your report and there’s no evidence he was investigating it.”
This wasnotgood.
Aleksei continued sharing. “BothDr.BuildloreandNurseFitzgeraldwere on staff atMercy, but they too have disappeared.Thesame with them keeping your stay and care out of hospital files.AndDr.Buildloreis in the middle of two inquiries.One, a complaint lodged by another nurse that he was taking inappropriate liberties with yet another nurse, notNurseFitzgerald, and showing her favoritism.Thesecond, he performed a procedure that his patient didn’t consent to.”
Oh no!
“Removing a beast?”
“No, removing a shifter’s entire uterus when she was supposed to be having a routineDandC.”
This had started out terrible, and it wasn’t getting any better.
“I feel it important to note thatIrecognized that weapon, because it was used on me,”Itold him.
He nodded. “Ididn’t miss when you said that.I’veinformed the task force.”
“But if those were the same weapons, it’s clear they didn’t want to kill my beast, because they definitely could have if it’s powerful enough to maybe end yours.”
