Page 108 of Take No Prisoners
Niall's eyes stung, and he blinked his angry tears away. "I could have left you some healing."
"The scales wouldn't let you. They demand balance." She patted his arm. "There's no remedy. What's done is done."
"I'll get Martiz to heal you."
She shook her head. "If all goes right, Martiz will be stripped of his power before the end of this day, too." She grinned at him. "That's my only satisfaction in all this. I've reminded them that the scales exist. Now, they must use them."
Niall didn't understand how taking Martiz's power would help anyone, but he didn't dare argue with his grandmother. He guided her back to the makeshift courtroom with a heavy heart.
Chapter 27
Efren
When Beatrice and Niall returned to the packed room, she and Vadim shared a look that made Efren uneasy to his core.
"It's done," she whispered as she came to stand beside Efren. She'd sent Niall to take her place on the council, in the middle chair facing Vadim. Niall sat on the edge of the seat, his back straight with every muscle tensed. Efren wanted to stand behind him, rub his shoulders, and tell him everything would be all right, but it was still too soon to tell.
"How is he?" he asked.
"Upset."
"Understandably. You're the only family he has left."
"Not true," she whispered. "He has you."
Martiz shot them a nasty look for whispering, but Efren's heart lifted at her words. He would be there for Niall, as would the rest of his crew.
"You could sail with us," he said. The winter ocean was never a kind place for old joints, but they would be together at the end.
"I would only be in your way."
Martiz glared their way once more, but Efren had run out of arguments. Beatrice had made her decision, and he would gladly carry out her last wishes.
"Efren, Captain ofStarlight Specter. You're next to testify."
"He'll try to put you on trial," Beatrice whispered. "Don't let him veer off topic. Coryn needs to be stopped."
Efren took the chair Klaus had vacated. It was perpendicular to the council and to Vadim, depending on which way he turned his head.
After he answered the preliminary questions, Martiz started in on the same line of questioning he'd used on the others, about Vadim's ship,Imperial Fool.
"How long had you been chasing them?"
"Six months around the crescent. We almost caught him at Hearthstone, and then we followed him to Landale."
"Why didn't you accost him in port at Landale?" Martiz asked.
"They had more crew than we did," Efren said. "Twenty air weavers, if I remember right."
"How many air weavers do you have?"
"Two." He swallowed. This was how Martiz was going to lambaste him before the council and his crew.
"Yet you caught him in open water?"
"He had to slow for the Quadrilles. We approached from the south and surprised him with an aerial assault."
"You attacked a ship with a death weaver and lived to tell the tale?"
