A Slave to Love

Chapter 48: Trial

"Hey Lexi," I said nervously, wringing my hands as we stood side by side in a wide, red, circular room. 

"Hey," she replied, completely void of emotion and standing still as a statue.

"Is it starting soon?" I asked. It had to be. A stupid question sure, but I was so stressed I just needed to do something, even if it was making pointless conversation. Apparently, Lexi was also lost to her anxiety because she'd been quiet ever since she showed up with her parents and no amount of attempts to get her to talk had worked.

She nodded, still not looking at me. She was staring straight ahead at the red curved wall, eyes blank, as if she were looking right through it into the trial room.

"It'll be fine," Blade assured her with a squeeze of her shoulder, but even he looked grim. He caught my eye and I could see the worry there over Lexi's near catatonic state and whether or not she would behave.

"Several of the council members seemed to have listened when we spoke to them last night," Talia added. We were all in the red waiting room, impatiently waiting to be let in; Dante, Talia, Lexi, Ace, Blade and I. Leon and Zephyr were already in there since Alek was their brother. The council was discussing Alek right now and we were waiting to be let in to give our stories.

Lexi started shaking her head and put her trembling hands to her temples. She walked away from our little group to go stand facing the wall, one hand against it as she breathed deeply. Nobody followed her, giving her space.

Blade moved to stand next to me, gaze flicking Lexi's way occasionally.  "Are you sure you want to stay?" he asked quietly.

He really didn't like the idea of me going into a room full of vampires and Alek, even though he'd be restrained, and certainly not when I was the one who had been attacked. He had even tried to convince me to stay home this morning once again. Which was stupid because I wanted to help Lexi and I had to be here in order to do so, and since Alek had attacked me I was a pretty important participant. It was a tangled mess and I could understand why he wanted to give me an out, but all it did was constantly remind me of things I didn't want to think about and wasn't ready to face.

I nodded and he looked grim, but slid his fingers between mine to give them a squeeze. "Stay close to me, okay?"

"Stop worrying about me," I said softly. "There are bigger problems to deal with right now."

"I can't help it," he whispered, directing me to the opposite side of the room of everyone else so we weren't overheard. "Right now I keep thinking about Halloween--"

"Don't think about. If it really was a threat they'd have done something by now, right? It's almost December and they haven't done a thing," I pointed out, "So right now that's not a priority. Just worry about Lexi and getting through today."

"You're crazy if you think your wellbeing isn't a priority at all times."

There was a weird noise, like a heavy weight dragging across the floor, and we both turned to see a part of the curved wall sliding open smoothly.

Blade POV

I squeezed Kiana's hand as soon as the wall was open and Aros' guards appeared. They led us all out of the waiting room, down a long, stone hall and to a pair of wooden doors at the end of the hall. They opened the doors and we stepped through, none of us looking at each other. We entered the council room as if we were the ones being tried and executed and the familiarity of the feeling only left a bad taste in my mouth. Once upon a time, I'd been in a similar position as Alek and I had to hope that he'd also make it through.

The council room was relatively large and was circular like the waiting room and it was quite dark, the walls a dark mahogany with black curtains hanging down. A circular wooden wall ran around the middle and behind that were seats ascending up the wall. There were ten council members in all and they were seated all around the circle perfectly while other important vamps sat behind and around them. Aros was seated at the head of the circle on a chair that was higher and much more ornate compared to the other vamps because of course everyone needed to know just how important he was at all times.

I hated being down here below him and everyone else, which was the whole point of course. They wanted to be physically higher and more intimidating, to look down on you in every way possible and remind you that you were nothing. It was effective as fuck and I wasn't even the one on trial at the moment.

Still, I hated the reminder and the familiar faces of those who had been at my own trial centuries ago and at the blood feast where I'd met Kiana and pulled her closer. It did nothing really, but it made me feel better that unlike last time I was in this position I wasn't alone. And hopefully it was a reminder to anyone up there who saw her and got any funny ideas that she was mine and therefore off fucking limits to whatever games they might want to play.