"It's not mine," Kristoff repeated with stubborn finality.
"You know, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how to transfer money to someone else's account. Someone is setting Kristoff up." I felt obliged to point that out, since it obviously hadn't occurred to anyone else.
"Why would anyone want to do that?" Rowan asked. "The money has gone to him. No one else would benefit from that."
"Oh, I don't know," I said in a tone lighter than the way I felt. I held his gaze firmly. "I can see someone who hated Kristoff going to all sorts of lengths to get revenge. Someone he thought of as close, but who turned out to be a traitor."
Rowan leaped to his feet and was over the table before the last word left my mouth. Instantly Kristoff was between us, his hands fisted as he scowled at his cousin.
"Oh, my!" Esme said, clutching the belt of her tattered bathrobe. "Fisticuffs!"
"Your Beloved is ill advised to speak thusly to me," Rowan spit.
"And you dare much to threaten her, cousin ," Kristoff answered, making me look at him in surprise. His lovely lyrical, Italian-accented voice was thick with anger. It warmed me that he'd be so protective, even when his heart wasn't touched by our bond.
"Sit down, both of you," Christian said, sounding weary. "What the Zorya says is true."
"My name is Pia," I said somewhat forlornly as I sat back down in my chair. "I really hate being called the Zorya."
"It is what you are," Sebastian pointed out.
"Not for long it isn't."
"Zoryas cannot be unmade," he answered with a curl of his lip.
I smiled. "They can if you approach it the right way. But before I discuss that, I'd like to deal with the rest of the ridiculous charges against us."
"It's so nice to see another Beloved who refuses to be a doormat," Allie said with a happy sigh. "Remind me to introduce you to Nell. You'll love her. She doesn't take any crap, either."
"Nell is perfectly charming and has exquisite manners," Esme agreed, with a look at me that told me she found mine lacking.
"The charges against you were not brought without ample proof, I assure you," Christian said after giving his wife a long look. "Nor do we make them lightly."
"You sure could have fooled me. So far all I've seen is a bunch of confusing paperwork that anyone could have faked," I said. "You might find that compelling, but I certainly don't. And while we're on the subject of this council, can we discuss the fact that you're all so very quick to turn on Kristoff? I'd think you would be acquainted with him well enough to know he isn't the sort of man to embezzle. I mean, really! You've all known him for what? Three hundred years? Four?" Without intending to do so, I found myself on my feet again as I expostulated. "What sort of friends are you that you are so willing to believe the worst about someone who you've known that long? Don't you have any concept of what loyalty means, what it means to call someone a friend?"
"Pia, dear-" Esme started to say.
I ignored her. "From where I'm standing, you guys are nothing more than a bunch of hypocrites, talking big, but when it comes right down to standing up for a friend in a time of need, you're all nothing but lame-asses. Yes, you heard me! Lame-asses! Of the... er... lamest kind!"
I sat down with a hrmph . Silence fell heavily in the room. It was at that moment that I realized just who I was yelling at-a roomful of vampires who had made it their life's calling to rid the world of Zoryas.
"I really like you," Allie said, applauding. She met the look her husband was sending her way with one of her own. "Oh, don't look at me that way. I told you all along that I never believed Kristoff would do any of the things you guys believe he's done."
"Tsk," Esme said sadly, shaking her head. "Women these days just have no idea about the subtle art of persuasion. One never shouts, dear. And one certainly never refers to those in a superior position as asses of any kind, no matter whether or not they deserve it."
Christian shot Esme a look of surprise.
She smiled a little regretfully at him. "I'm sorry, dear Christian, but I do believe that in this case, the ladies are right and you gentlemen are the teensiest bit mistaken. Kristoff has been nothing but polite and a true gentleman when I pay my daily call on him, and, as you know, a gentleman would never steal money from others."
"Thank you, Esme," I said with a curt little nod at Christian.
"I am willing to concede that perhaps we have been overhasty with regards to the proof of the financial issue, although I find myself most curious as to how such a sum of money could have found its way into Kristoff's personal account without his knowing. Regardless..." He held up a hand to stop me when I was about to protest. "I agree that it would be relatively easy for someone to arrange for him to look guilty, so I am willing to dismiss those charges, pending, of course, a further investigation into the matter."
"One down, two to go," I muttered to Kristoff.
"It matters not," he grumbled.
I patted his hand before I could stop myself. His eyes darkened as my fingers lingered on the backs of his, capturing them in a gesture that made me flush to the tips of my toes.