Chapter 253 Challenge and Resistance
ADRIANA
Hazel came into my room the following morning while I was still halfway through my first cup of coffee and told me that the Alphas were assembled in the meeting hall and had requested a formal audience.
I looked at her over the rim of the cup.
“How many?”
“Most of them.” She sat across from me. “They’ve called for the Council presence as well.”
“Of course they have.” I set the cup down. “They’re here to argue for Damon.”
“That would be my read.”
I finished my coffee. I took my time with it, not out of anxiety, but because walking into a room of angry Alphas was easier when you’d had the full cup. Then I dressed and went downstairs and walked into the meeting hall and took my seat at the head of the table and looked at the assembled faces of men who had decided collectively that this was a fight worth having.
“Alphas.” I kept my voice even and almost pleasant. “You wanted to see me. I came because I respect the position you hold, and because I was curious.” I sat back. “Go ahead.”
A man near the center of the table stood and introduced himself. Alpha Rob. Sensing Pack. He had the bearing of someone who had been elected spokesperson and was taking the responsibility seriously.
“My Queen, we appreciate you hearing us out.” He bowed. “On behalf of the Alphas present, we want to raise a concern about the sentencing handed down to Alpha Damon. We feel that considering his years of service and his contributions to this kingdom the punishment may be disproportionate to the circumstances.”
I looked at him.
“Disproportionate,” I said.
“He has served this kingdom faithfully for six years, My Queen. His removal from the Alpha position is already a significant consequence. We feel that—”
“How many women?” I said.
He stopped.
“In your assessment of proportionality. How many women does a man have to rape and torture before the consequences become proportionate? Give me a number. I’m genuinely asking, because I want to understand the calculation you’re working with.”
Rob cleared his throat. “My Queen, I don’t think that framing is entirely—”
“He confessed in this court.” I leaned forward slightly. “In front of witnesses and Elders. He said the name of the woman he killed, described how he did it, and didn’t deny a single allegation made against him. That’s not a case that came down to interpretation. That’s a man who believed for so long that he was untouchable that he stopped seeing any reason to lie.” I looked around the table. “And you’ve come here to tell me the sentence is disproportionate.”
Rob pressed forward with the commitment of a man who had prepared this argument and intended to deliver it. “If perhaps some financial consideration had been extended to the women involved—”
I stood up.
“Finish that sentence,” I said slowly. My voice is as calm as still water. “I want to hear it completed.”
He didn’t finish it.
“You’re suggesting that the correct response to rape and murder was to pay the survivors to be quiet.” I looked at him directly. “That is what you came here to say to me. In this room. Today.” I let the silence do its work. “And you thought that was going to change my mind.”
“My Queen—” A different voice from further down the table. “With respect, if the King were here—”
“The King is not here,” I said. “I am. And the difference between me and the King, in this matter, is that I’m not interested in the political cost of doing the right thing.” I turned to look at the man who had spoken. “Elijah would have reached the same verdict. He would simply have been less patient with this meeting.”
Rob tried once more. “We formally request a retrial. With the Alphas present as observers. We believe the process was—”
“I’m going to stop you there.” I sat back down, which somehow landed harder than standing. “You don’t have the authority to request a retrial on a concluded case. That authority rests with the crown. And the crown — which is me, today, in the absence of the King — is telling you that there will be no retrial.” I kept my voice entirely level. “Damon confessed. The witnesses testified. The Elders agreed. The verdict stands and the sentence stands.” I looked around the table one last time. “If any of you came here today because you were genuinely concerned about due process, I hope this conversation has addressed those concerns. If you came because Damon is your colleague and you’d like him back, I understand the impulse and I’m telling you it changes nothing.”
I stood. “I have things to attend to. If there are other matters any of you need to raise with me, you can schedule time through the proper channels.” I looked at Rob pointedly. “And Alpha Rob, whatever you were about to say about those women and money, I’d strongly recommend never saying it to anyone, anywhere, ever again. Not in this kingdom.”
I left the room.
In the hallway, I slowed my pace and let the tension in my shoulders release by degrees. Hazel fell into step beside me from wherever she’d been standing.
“That went well,” she said.
“It went exactly as I expected.”
“Rob looked like he might actually expire when you asked him to finish the sentence.”
“Good.” I turned toward the stairs. “Make sure the prisons have increased security on Damon’s cell. After a meeting like that, I don’t want anyone getting ideas about being heroic on his behalf.” I paused. “And find out if Rob has anything in his own record that needs looking at. A man who walks into that room and says what he said — I want to know if there’s a reason he was so committed to defending Damon specifically.”
Hazel was already writing.
“How is Lana?”
“Fed, awake, and apparently trying to roll over. Lorain has been supervising.”
Something in my chest loosened despite everything. “I’ll go up.”
“You should eat first.”
“I’ll eat upstairs.”
She handed me a bread roll from somewhere. I didn’t ask where she’d been keeping it but I took it and went up to find my daughter and my five-year-old and whatever small ordinary piece of the day was waiting for me on the other side of everything else.