Courts and Cabals 2 G.S. D'Moore (the little red hen read aloud .txt) 📖

in their spheres of influence, they could do it. It also gave them plausible deniability. If they fluctuated time, they could say they just got the message and replied immediately; when in fact a year had passed in the mortal realm since the message was sent. It was the perfect alibi, and every second Cam was there, the less likely he would come back.

Tears burned behind her eyes, but she refused to shed them. She needed to be strong. She couldn’t show weakness. Not today.

“Okay,” she took a deep breath. “What’s the status of the case?”

The lawyer’s expression was not reassuring. “From what all our consultants are saying, Dani will be acquitted.”

“At least there is some good news,” Lilith didn’t want the cantankerous dwarf suffering just because she followed orders.

“Xamira’s status is a little more touch and go. At best, the jury is deadlocked and we get a mistrial. We’ll see if the government wants to retry her after the media spectacle.”

The cases of what the media had dubbed the Hamilton Three had been going on for a month. From the way the government was presenting their case, you’d think all three women were Charles Manson. They were pulling out all the stops, sparing no expense, and doing all of it just to give the cabal a black eye. Lilith knew both sides had spent a collective eight figures on nothing more than a manslaughter charge. She wasn’t Susan Wright, who’d stabbed her husband nearly 200 times. She’d regretfully killed six changelings when she’d been attacked by Aveena; there was a big fucking difference.

All three of the cabal women had to sit there while the government brought out expert after expert to explain the issue to twelve people who’d been unintelligent enough to get out of jury duty. Despite all the ways the lawyers had approached the issue, it all boiled down to one argument.

Like all things governmental and bureaucratic, the UN had developed a scale to rate supernaturals. The only people who understood, or cared about, the scale were paper-pushers, because within a month of the scale being published, people poked holes in its logic.

Magic wasn’t cookie cutter. It’s scope and scale were a function of will as much as power. If a weaker mage had more willpower at any particular moment, they could beat someone classified as stronger than them. Then, when you added in all the rock-paper-scissors advantages and disadvantages of certain types of theurgy study, the elemental abilities, the different species, and things like cold iron and silverbane; you realized the supernatural rating scale was a giant waste of money and time.

“This trial might be the only positive thing to come out of those millions of dollars,” her thoughts were bitter.

What the prosecution had done, over and over and over, was drill into the minds of the jury that the difference between a changeling and a succubus was several orders of magnitude. There was no way even six changelings could hope to survive an attack from Lilith.

All of that was completely true, and the defense tried to counter by explaining the attack wasn’t against the changelings, but against a noble Fae; who by the government’s convoluted standards, was on equal footing with Lilith. The prosecution countered the counter by saying that’s why it was a manslaughter and not a murder charge. Around and around they went, and the only thing that suffered from the weeks of testimony was Lilith’s psyche.

“We need to talk about the offer,” the lawyer’s change in tone brought her back to the present.

Lilith sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Despite a good eight hours of sleep, and the pick-me-up from the lawyer, she felt exhausted. “What’s your read on it?” she wanted his honest opinion.

“We lost some people with the last character witness,” he looked uncomfortable admitting what Lilith already knew.

Most of the families of the changelings had refused to testify; either because they’d been told to stay out of it by the Fae, or because the cabal had gotten to them first with financial incentive. That had allowed the defense to undercut five of the six cases, but number six looked like the straw that might break the camel’s back.

The grieving mother of the sixth changeling had taken the stand, and it had been moving. Even Lilith had cried a little when the woman described her only child and the life they’d lived. It wasn’t a, “I’m crying to look sympathetic to the jury” cry either, she’d been genuinely distraught. Ever since then, the prosecution had leveraged that to screw Lilith.

“You’ll plead guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter,” the lawyer informed. “They’ve come down from a year to six months with time served; so, you’ll only be incarcerated for a little under five months.” The next words looked like it pained him to speak. “It’s a good deal, ma’am.”

Something in his tone told her he wasn’t done yet. “Spit it out,” she sighed, as defeat settled into her bones.

“They said they’d also dismiss the charges against Dani and Xamira,” he finished.

“Fucking bastards,” she really wanted to dismember the government lawyers, but she had to admit, they’d done their homework.

Dani was probably going to be fine either way, but if Lilith could save her niece, she would. “What the hell is six months against eternity?” she mentally shrugged in acceptance.

The only downside was Cam. As far as she was concerned, everyone who was looking for him had their head so far up their asses they thought the news they were bringing her was chocolate and not shit. Unlike anyone else, she had the ability to go to the Faerie Realm; her half-Fae blood would be key to any parlay . . . or clandestine action. As important as she might be to any plan, there was no way in hell she would even know where to