Marked For Death: A Dark Urban Fantasy Novel by Becca Blake (english novels to improve english .txt) 📕

realized he wouldn’t get the reaction he wanted from me, Marcus continued. “Up to this point, Commander Orion has been one of our most faithful members, as was his father before him, but we must consider the facts. His mission was to eliminate the Oathbreaker, Jay Maki, and to complete the planned sacrifice. Instead, he cooperated with Maki and one of the rogue mages.”

We’d been expecting him to lie, of course. Still, I could hardly believe what I was hearing. The Council ordered Orion not to kill Maki, no matter how badly he wanted to.

From the beginning, it had all been a setup to get rid of him.

But why?

“Additionally, two of the hunters in his unit appear to have been accomplices in his mission. It seems they were only acting under his orders, but we will hold a separate trial for them in a week’s time.”

Once more, I felt the commanders and Council members staring at us, and I looked down at the floor. As I brought my hands back to my lap, my fingers brushed against the hard edges of the gun strapped to my thigh. How many could I take out before they stopped me?

Not nearly enough.

In a week’s time, we would be gone, I reminded myself. We just had to remain calm and stay alive until then.

“In the interest of fairness, we must now allow the defendant to speak.” Marcus extended his hand toward Orion, then sat next to Leader Grayson once more.

Orion stood up and looked around the hall at the small audience until his eyes met mine. He held my gaze as though he were trying to communicate something, though I had no idea what it was.

Marcus made a show of checking his watch. “We’re all waiting, Alexander.”

“You know, I had something written out for this. A nice, eloquent response outlining my intentions and the exact events of the evening. But you know what? This trial is a joke,” Orion said.

I brought my free hand to my mouth to smother a gasp.

“This was decided well before I stepped inside this building today. Infernal hells, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was decided before I even left Haygrove for the mission.”

“That’s enough,” Leader Grayson said. “This Council will not sit here and listen to insults and lies.”

“Do you have anything that is actually relevant to say in your defense, Commander, or should we wrap things up here?” Marcus asked.

“The only thing I’ll bother saying is that Riley and Jacob are innocent. They’ve done nothing but follow my orders as their commanding officer. Any wrongdoing on their part rests on my shoulders.”

“No,” I murmured.

Jacob’s grip on my hand tightened, and he shook his head.

Don’t, he mouthed.

“Well, I suppose we can take that as a confession,” Marcus said.

Leader Grayson nodded. “Is the Council prepared to vote?”

They continued down the line in order of seniority, each calling out the same verdict.

When it was Councilwoman Lawrence’s turn to vote, she closed her eyes and gave the same reply as the rest of her colleagues.

“Alexander Orion, the Council of Shadows finds you guilty of—”

The ringing in my ears drowned out whatever Leader Grayson said next.

Guilty.

The word played in my mind on repeat as everything moved in slow motion, a nightmare I couldn’t wake from. Numbness spread through my body, and though I wanted to make it all stop, I could do nothing but sit and watch.

As the Council’s security guards surrounded Orion, he shifted into a defensive stance, his legs spread wide and his fists ready. He caught the first guard with an uppercut to the jaw, then spun around to kick the one behind him. Orion was able to get in a few solid blows before his body went limp, paralyzed by a spell or enchantment.

One of the guards climbed on his back and restrained him with a pair of handcuffs. When they pulled him to his feet again, blood covered the side of his face, though I wasn’t sure whether it was his own or someone else’s.

My legs moved on their own, as though someone else was pulling me toward Orion.

“Riley, stop. We have to go.”

Jacob’s voice was rough in my ear, and his arms were tight around my waist as he pulled me back. I let him drag me through the courtroom. Everyone else seemed to be too distracted by the spectacle Orion created to care about what Jacob and I were doing, as no one tried to stop us.

He led me up the stairs, and we sat on the landing, looking out through the wooden rails. The air out in the entryway was less stuffy, and I felt like I could breathe again for the first time since the trial began.

The commanding offices and Council members accompanied the guards as they escorted Orion out of the courtroom. His eyes were unfocused, and he dragged his feet as he shuffled forward. The guards led him down the stairs to the basement.

I looked out the window at the mob that had formed to take delight in Orion’s downfall. Was he really so hated? Or were they just looking for cheap excitement, some drama to break up the monotony?

Either way, I wished they would leave. Their presence made everything so much worse, and part of me hated them all just for being there.

“What do we do now?” I asked.

“We could try to sneak out through a window. If we go out the other side, we might be able to avoid the mob and make it back to your place,” Jacob whispered.

“And then what? We just wait for our trial, so they can kill us, too?” I shook my head. “As soon as they finish up here, they’ll come for us. We need to leave Haygrove and get as far away from here as we can.”

“If we leave Haygrove now, Orion’s sacrifice today will be for nothing,” Jacob reminded me.

I buried my head in my hands. I’d had the same thought, but after seeing Orion get dragged away, it all felt