Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,153

clenched teeth as I glared at Reave. The Svartálfar was breathing in short gasps as if the pain was getting to him. Either that or it was a rising tide of panic pressing against his chest. My head snapped up to look at the council members. “Read his mind and see the truth,” I said louder. They didn’t look particularly pleased with my “request,” but one after another, each orb glowed a neutral yellow as they cast the spell to read the dark elf’s mind.

It was several seconds before anyone on the council spoke again. “Powell wasn’t involved in the information leak,” one warlock said, almost disappointed. He hadn’t spoken since I entered the room and he didn’t look particularly pleased with the revelation that I wasn’t involved. Of course, I had a few other strikes against me.

“But he did work for the elf,” murmured a witch at the far end of the row of council members. Her voice was soft and thoughtful, as if she were carefully considering the things she was seeing in Reave’s mind.

“Not willingly,” I said. “A daylight attack by Simon Thorn forced my secret out into the populace. Reave used blackmail to force me to work for him.”

“So I saw.” Her voice hardened. She didn’t look at me when she spoke, but was looking over my shoulder at Gideon. My heart pounded in my chest and a cold sweat broke out between my shoulder blades. If she was seeing Reave’s anger about my activities at the fix house, then she was likely drawing some interesting conclusions about Gideon’s failure to report what had occurred at the house to the council. Fuck.

“Reave is the one who discovered the secret locations,” I said in a rush, pushing forward in hopes of distracting the rest of the council from whatever the witch had seen. “I humbly request that the Towers punish the Svartálfar called Reave and send a message to the leaders of the world that you’ve captured the enemy that brought destruction down on the world’s people.”

A low chuckle rippled over me, drawing my gaze down to the opposite end of the row of council members. A lean warlock sat back in his chair, watching me through dancing green eyes. He wore the same black robes as all the others and his staff wasn’t much different from theirs, but when I looked at him, the only word that came to mind was dandy. Something in me wanted to believe he was harmless, which only set more alarm bells. No warlock or witch was harmless.

“I didn’t think you knew such a term, Mr. Powell. Humble,” he said with another laugh.

I didn’t recognize him, so I didn’t think he had been at my hearing. Of course, the memory of my hearing was a terrified blur, so he could have been there.

“Can you be humble?” he asked with a grin.

I bowed to the council a bit stiffly, bending low at the waist. “Please, consider my request. Let people sleep easily in their beds again.” I was looking at the shiny floor as I spoke, but they heard me. Bile rose up in my throat and I wanted to scream. Hatred and shame battled in my chest until I was nearly choking. I hated having to abase myself before these assholes, but if it kept everyone safe for a little while longer, I could swallow my pride.

When I straightened and gazed up at the council, they were all looking at each other but no one was speaking. The orbs had changed to an orangish glow as they used telepathy to deliberate silently with each other. If there was a consensus among them, they wouldn’t bother to vote. If the council was widely divided, they’d vote verbally.

I swallowed hard, fighting the need to throw up as the tension roiled my stomach. The argument seemed cut-and-dry to me. Reave had found the locations of the Towers. He deserved to be punished for threatening the order of the world. I doubted there was a government in the world that would agree to punish him with a death sentence, but if a scapegoat could take the blame without risking more lives, they’d all hand him over without hesitation. It wasn’t right, but it kept people alive.

Of course, I didn’t know what else they had seen in Reave’s mind and I was praying they didn’t throw my name in with his so they could get rid of me.

“It’s decided,” the black witch announced, and my heart