for violence. “He hurt you. He let you go to prison for a crime you didn’t commit. He almost destroyed both of us.”
Ignoring the burn of pain in her wounded arm, Kat pushed herself up to a sitting position. “Yes, he did. And on top of everything else he’s guilty of, he murdered Councilman Eddington tonight.”
She shivered at the memory and fought to keep from looking toward the councilman’s body. One death was enough for the night. “Conlan, I’m asking you to let Ambrose and the Coalition decide Richard’s fate. I need your help right now more than he needs to die.”
She watched as Conlan fought to regain control. Finally, he looked around as if seeing the others standing around the clearing for the first time. When he spotted a young chancellor, he waved him over.
“Finn, take this piece of meat over to Ambrose. Tell him his name is Richard Jacobs, and he’s the one Kat was supposed to have murdered three years ago. He’s also the one who killed Eddington.”
As soon as Finn took hold of Richard by the scruff of the neck, the human went limp. From where Kat sat, she couldn’t tell if he’d passed out, and didn’t care. All things considered, it was unlikely Richard would live to see sunrise unless he could convince Ambrose that he was of more value alive.
Conlan scooped her up in his arms and carried her over to a stone bench by what had been the front door of her sister’s home. She tried to hold on to her consciousness, but it was a losing battle. Whether it was due to exhaustion or blood loss or even relief that the worst was over didn’t matter. As soon as Conlan settled her down in his lap, the darkness threatened to overwhelm her.
She had something to say, something important. “Conlan, I’m sorry.”
It was impossible to tell if he heard her, so she tried to tell him again. Nothing came out, and the world disappeared. The last sound she heard was her lover shouting for a medic.
Forty-eight hours later, Conlan paced the floor of the courthouse. He was well aware of Joss watching his every move with interest while her vampire husband looked on in apparent boredom. What the hell time was it anyway?
He reversed course and glanced up at the clock. “What can be taking this long? How many times does she have to get shot before they know she’s the victim in all of this?”
At least the medics had been able to stop the bleeding and get her stitched up quickly. With the immune boosters they’d administered, she was already on the mend. Conlan picked up where he’d left off. “With Richard Jacobs in custody, they have proof positive that she didn’t kill him three years ago. It should’ve been an open-and-shut case.”
Joss started to say something, but Rafferty touched her arm and shook his head. What was that all about? He stalked over to stand right in front of them and planted both feet. His chancellor friend and her vampire husband calmly stared right back at him but still didn’t say a word.
“Do you two know something I don’t?”
Again, they conferred silently. This time Rafferty shrugged, evidently leaving the decision up to Joss. If they didn’t think he’d like what they had to say, too bad. He still wanted to know. Needed to know.
He crossed his arms over his chest and widened his stance. “Just tell me, Joss. It’s the not knowing that’s driving me insane.”
His friend rose to her feet, forcing him to back up a step. He dropped his hands to his sides and let his shoulders slump, telling her without words that his anger wasn’t really directed at her or even Rafferty.
Hoping he could depend on Joss to tell it to him straight, he asked the hard question, the one he didn’t even like to think about. “They’re not going to set her free, are they?”
Joss shook her head. “Ambrose is arguing that she’s the one innocent in all of this, but Eddington had friends in high places. They don’t want to believe that he had anything to do with any conspiracy, although they’re hard-pressed to explain why he was out there if he wasn’t involved.”
“That’s ridiculous. If I were Ambrose, I’d launch an immediate investigation into every one of those bastards to see if they aren’t up to their necks in the same mess.”
Rafferty joined his wife, as always presenting a united front to the world. Damn,