Courts and Cabals by G.S. D'Moore (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

alter Aveena had been fucking on back in her room. This one matched the plain gray boulders, but was clearly where the prosecution was going to make their case.

Four changelings sat on top of the boulders watching the cabal group enter. I recognized them all from school. There was also a large man I didn’t recognize. He was taller than everyone except Joe, but he was giving the big shifter a run for his money.

Despite his height, the new Fae couldn’t be any different from Joe. Joe was fucking ripped, but the new Fae looked like Buddha. He didn’t have rolls of fat because his stomach was basically one big, round ball. His cheeks were full, and he sported several chins. He had the Fae-typical pointed ears, a bald head, and his skin was a grayish color that matched the boulders.

“If that guy curled up in a ball, I’m pretty sure he’d blend right in,” I laughed to myself. I didn’t know what Aveena was thinking bringing the fatty to the party, but my guess was he was someone like Aden. Here to help her present her case.

The changelings and fat Fae were all that Aveena brought with her, so the cabal outnumbered her. From the look on the Fae noble’s face, I would have thought differently. She was in a dress of pure white that seemed to glow with otherworldly light. She was showing more cleavage than Lilith, but a cloak draped around her shoulders hid enough to make it classy. Her hair fell like a golden waterfall down her back, and her head was adorned with a tiara made of a crystal that seemed to drink in the light that touched it.

She didn’t look at my group as we took our position on the opposite side of the room. Here, it looked more like a traditional courtroom. There was a large mahogany desk and enough chairs for everyone. Xamira, Dani, and Xander didn’t sit. They took up positions behind Lilith, me, and Aden. I could sense their tension like static electricity in the air. Lilith waved me into the middle seat, and the two sex-fueled supernaturals flanked me.

Joe took his seat moments later, and banged the large gavel. It sounded like a boom of thunder in the small space.

“Hear yee, hear yee. The trial of mortal Cameron Dupree, brought before this court by Lady Aveena Foxbelle, Heir to the Winter Throne, is now in session. May all present be bound by the rules of our shared covenant. I invoke it once, twice, and thrice. Let all who betray it be labeled oath breakers.”

I felt the atmosphere grow heavy around me, and for the first time, I felt the sway the covenants held on reality. I’d never seen a human trade deal physically put a fifty-pound weight on a person’s shoulders.

“We will begin with the prosecution’s opening statement,” Joe gestured for Aveena to begin.

The Fae noble turned her attention to me for the first time, and I saw nothing but hate in her expression. I didn’t know who Chloe was to her, but she was fucking pissed I’d killed her. Then the noble Fae opened her mouth . . . and started to speak in a language I didn’t understand.

“That’s a low blow,” Aden leaned in close. “She’s addressing the court in the Fae’s natural tongue so you can’t understand.”

“Bitch,” I returned her glare with one of my own.

Thankfully, Aden spoke fluent Fae, and as he translated, I got a better feel for the language. I still definitely needed an interpreter by the end of her opening statement, but I could pick out a few words. Most notably: half-blood whore, murderer, and mortal. That was the core of her opening. Lilith was a whore. I was a bastard mortal who’d wronged a Fae noble, and when she ordered justice be done, I killed her vassal. She laid out the charges against me, and murder was only the most serious of a half a dozen she accused me of. Then she summoned the earth to rise up to meet her glamoured ass, and took her seat.

“Now it’s our turn,” Aden nodded to Lilith.

The succubus stood up tall and confident. She surveyed the court, Aveena, and her people before bowing to Joe. Then, she waved her hand and the mark on by hand shown like a supernova. She smacked her hand on the desk and started to speak in flawless Fae. She gestured passionately between Aveena and me, and I was enthralled. Not only with her heaving breasts, but the passion radiating from her.

For most of my experiences with Lilith, she’d been calm and collected. The two times I’d seen her draw her sword in my defense were different, but overall, she was pretty mellow. I guessed that’s what happened when most things were drawn to you by your very nature. What I saw in Joe’s pizza joint was something entirely different.

Lilith was a radiant, powerful, slightly frightening woman. Waves of desire and strength smashed into me one after the other. I couldn’t move. I could hardly breathe, and I couldn’t contain the bulge in my pants. I was surprised I didn’t fall off the seat. Her mark did nothing to dampen the effects as she unleashed more power than I’d ever seen before.

“And this is just the opening statement,” I gulped, as she concluded and took her seat. Even Aden seemed a little slack jawed, but he recovered much faster.

Lilith leaned over, and I was sure the mere smell of her was going to give me a heart attack. “I broke down her argument,” she explained casually, like she hadn’t been a pure force of nature three seconds ago. “Then I leveled our charges against her.” She gave my hand a pat, and pulled away.

I was completely drained, and the trial had been going for less than ten minutes. I