"Zarek," she said firmly. "You're hurting me. Let me go."
To her shock, he did. He moved back ever so slightly but his angry presence was still tangible. Oppressive. Frightening.
"Do something smart, princess," he growled in her ear. "Stay far away from me."
She heard him walk away from her.
"He's guilty" Sasha snapped. "Astrid. Judge him."
She couldn't. Not yet. Even though Zarek scared her. Even though at this moment he did seem unbalanced and terrifying.
He hadn't really hurt her. He'd only frightened her, and that wasn't something anyone should die for.
After this, she could well understand how he could have snapped one night and killed everyone in the village he had been entrusted to guard.
Would he snap like that with her?
Because she was immortal, he couldn't kill her, but he could hurt her.
A lesser judge might go ahead and render verdict based on his actions tonight alone. She was tempted herself, but she wouldn't. Not yet.
"Are you all right?" Sasha asked after she refused to respond to his demand for a verdict.
"Yes."
But she was lying and she had a feeling Sasha knew it. Zarek terrified her in a way no one ever had before.
Over the centuries, she had judged countless men and women. Murderers, traitors, blasphemers. You name it.
But none of them had ever scared her. None of them had ever made her want to go running to her sisters for protection.
Zarek did.
There was something about him that really wasn't sane. She was used to dealing with people who tried to hide their insanity. Men who could play gallant heroes while inside they were cold and cruel.
Zarek lashed out and yet he hadn't hurt her.
At least not yet.
But his bullying tactics were going to have to go.
She remembered Acheron's words to her: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly..."
What was inside Zarek's heart?
Expelling a long breath, Astrid reached out with her senses and tried to locate Zarek.
As before, she couldn't find him at all. It was as if he were so used to keeping himself hidden that he didn't register on anyone's radar. Not even her heightened one.
"Where is he?" she asked Sasha.
"In his room, I think."
"Where are you?"
Sasha came and sat at her feet. "Artemis is right. For the sake of mankind, he should be put down. There's something seriously wrong with that man."
Astrid rubbed his ears as she considered that. "I don't know. Acheron bartered with Artemis so that I could judge Zarek. He wouldn't have done that for no reason. Only a fool barters with Artemis for anything. And Acheron is far from foolish. There has to be something good in Zarek or else-"