its authority. That means you’ll be completely beholden to the Law, but you’ll also be granted all the protections of it. If someone outside your species attacks you, you can defend yourself. Mind you, you’ll have to pay reparations for the death if one occurs. But I think we can go a step further. I want you to ask for protection under the Endangered Species Law.”
“What?” I knew I had lost him by the look on his face.
“Some species are given special dispensation to kill at first sight for trespassers or attackers with no legal ramifications. No reparations, no talking it out with the Tribunal to see if you accidentally committed murder. Nagas are one of them. If anyone comes on my property without my permission, I’m allowed to kill first and ask questions later, and no one can try me for murder.”
“It’s based on the werecats,” Cassius added. “They have land magic, a territorial thing they do where any supernatural that crosses into their territory can and probably will be killed on sight. Other species asked to be allowed to protect themselves like that, but they have to have good reason or unfair wars over land would pop up. Generally, a werewolf pack and a vampire nest can’t fight over a city just because they want to. Both the pack and the nest would be put down for such an egregious display of bad behavior. But species low in numbers, under undue threat of extinction, are given permission to defend themselves like werecats do.”
“Werecats aren’t protected under the Law, but no one is going to stop a werecat from killing anything on its territory,” I said, shrugging. “It’s your choice, Raphael, but this is the best we can do. This isn’t a world where the fighting ever truly stops. There’s always something or someone that wants to kill you, but this will allow you to fight back every time. If someone tries to capture you, kill them. If someone comes into your home, kill them. No guilt, no possible repercussions. They know what they’re doing when they go after you if this becomes a thing and goes public.”
“I…” Raphael sighed. “This is really it, isn’t it?”
“Right now, you’re an undeclared species with no protections from the Tribunal. Without those, The Tribunal and Mygi can put you in a dark room and experiment on you until their hearts are content. The Tribunal makes it a point to treat species who aren’t loyal to them badly, as a way to say, ‘join us, and we’ll stop this.’ It’s cruel, but it got several very dangerous species in line. Pocket populations, mostly, like you. The Tribunal had no legal right to tell Mygi to stop, even if they wanted to.” Cassius closed his book of Law. “It’s the right decision, Raphael. By agreeing to the rules, the rules also protect you.”
“This sounds like something that came up in my human rights class,” he muttered. “Everyone has rights except those people who aren’t ‘us.’”
“That’s exactly what this is,” I agreed, feeling bad. “But it’s worked for our world for a long time. The Tribunal is eight hundred years old, and it’s the first attempt supernaturals have ever made to have a centralized ruling power to keep us all in line. While it keeps us in line, it also protects all of us from exposure.”
“What would happen if I exposed it all?”
“Don’t consider that,” I whispered.
“Why not?”
“They would order me to kill you, and I…” I couldn’t say that I would. I couldn’t say that I wouldn’t try. “An Executioner would put you down, and you would be written off as a deranged mad man with no idea what you’re talking about. The species who don’t want to go public shouldn’t be forced to.”
Cassius caught my eye.
“It worked for someone else,” my ex-lover pointed out.
“Hasan is a Tribunal member, and he was fighting to keep one of his own alive. They wouldn’t be able to write him off as an idiot, either. Not if his entire family went public and took the Tribunal with them. Raphael is one man. His case would be the same as everyone else’s.” Hasan had threatened to expose everyone if a werecat was put to death. It was what brought him out of hiding only a few weeks ago. I had been at that Trial.
Fuck, it was the business trip I was on just before this mess started.
“Fair points,” the fae conceded. “I just wanted to make sure you