Page 3 of Mortal Blood
“Enforcer Brennan,” the guy said curtly. “This is Councilor Verena. And you are…”
“Sick of sitting here waiting for you,” I snapped. “And not interested in playing games. You know who I am or I wouldn’t be here.”
The woman—Verena—ran and appraising look over me, then nodded to Brennan.
“Unbind her hands.”
“Do you think that’s wise, Councilor? She doesn’t seem…compliant.”
“I doubt she’s foolish enough to attempt something reckless,” the woman said, eyeing me meaningfully. I was pretty sure she was deluding herself about the extent both of my foolishness and my recklessness, but if it meant I was going to get some feeling back in my hands before they dropped off, I was willing to roll with it.
“I’m not looking to cause any trouble,” I said, and Brennan snorted. I snapped my gaze to him. “Hey,I’mnot the one who’s done anything wrong. And I’m also not the one who dragged anyone away in chains.”
“They wouldn’t have been necessary if you didn’t resist,” he said.
“Resist?” I gave a short laugh. “What part of coming without a fight did your men deem ‘resisting’, exactly?”
“I’m not here to answer to you,” he snarled.
“No, you’re not,” the councilor said before I could reply and land myself any deeper in the shit. “But you are here to follow my instructions, and I would appreciate you doing so. Kindly unbind her hands.”
He jerked his head at the guard by the door, glowering the whole time, and the man hurried forward. I twisted round to offer him my bound hands, whilst resisting the urge to stick my tongue out at Brennan—just.
“You stand accused of attempting to conceal your true nature from the council,” Verena said bluntly.
“I’ve never even met the council,” I protested. “Before today, I mean.”
“The administration at Darkveil Academy is council-appointed,” Brennan said, curling his upper lip in an unmistakably smug sneer.
“Fine. But it wasn’t like I deceived them deliberately.”
“So you do admit to deceiving them?” Verena said, canting her head a fraction as she regarded me.Shit.
“I’m human! I don’t know how I did the partial shift. And it’s not like I’ve done it since. You have to believe me.” I looked from one to the other and found—unsurprisingly—no support. This was bad. And I needed to do better than this. I drew in a steadying breath and narrowed my eyes. “Actually, no, you don’t have to believe me. You have to believe the instructors at Darkveil, and Alpha Cain. It never happened before or since. Unless you’re accusingthemof lying?”
“You have a shifter’s fiery spirit,” she said.
“Also not a crime,” I ground out.
“Defying the council is a crime,” the enforcer snarled, and I snapped my gaze to him coolly.
“And if I’d defied them, I’d gladly answer for that. But I haven’t.”
“Yes,” he said, his lips twisting into a smile. “Plenty of crimes youhavecommitted for us to focus on.”
“And I’m still waiting to hear proof of them.” I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms across my chest. If they thought I was going to lose my temper and give them something to fit me up with…well, they were probably right, but I was at least going to make them work for it.
The councilor snapped the fingers of her left hand, and a manilla filematerializedin her hand. Out of thin air. I blinked at it and tried to act like it wasn’t the first time I’d seen magic before, because it wasn’t…but that was a lot of power to be throwing around needlessly.
“Nice trick,” I said. “I could use that at the academy. It’d save me carrying around so many books.”
“You’re assuming you’re going back to the academy,” the enforcer said, sending a chill down my spine. He smirked in satisfaction as I felt my face pale, so I shot him a smirk of my own that felt entirely faked.
“Supernaturals are council-required to attend the academy. So make your mind up—I’m either human, or I’m not.”
“Prisoners don’t attend the academy.”
I swallowed hard. Yeah, there was that. And I would very much like not to find myself locked up any time in my future. I clamped my mouth shut.
