Cursed To Death

up,” the crone yelled as the gavel banged on the bench.

“We don’t have to sit for this out-of-order travesty of indignities and injustice! I demand recompense now!” Baron Montague shouted, still standing.

“Sit,” Elder Vlad said evenly.

Baron Montague sat slowly and smoothed down his lapels, but it was palpable that his nerves were drawn tight by the ancient Vampire’s words. He shared a look with Queen Blatand as Kiagehul was roughly brought to the front witness box by very disgruntled wolves. They shoved him into the seat and the book and pen swished closer to him to take his testimony.

“How do ye plead?” the crone screeched.

“Not guilty by reason of insanity!” Kiagehul called out.

The court erupted and, after many attempts by the frazzled gavel, the audience finally settled down.

“Speak,” the crone said, and then walked away shaking her head.

“I was influenced by very strong forces,” Kiagehul said, beginning to weep. “My queen, I wanted to do it for you… It wasn’t for the money.”

Sasha laughed a cold, hard laugh as she walked back to her box with Hunter. “The little bastard just threw you under the bus, Baron.”

“That is an outright lie!” the baron said, standing and pointing to Kiagehul. “He came to me and offered me a chance to build an alliance, for a price. He wanted the lands and establishments that should have come to him under normal inheritance law-but that had been nationalized by Sir Rodney… Dugan’s properties!” The baron regained his composure and then looked at Elder Vlad. “He then said that he would show me the extent of his capabilities in a way that would utterly shock and surprise me… I of course had no knowledge of how far he would go; my goal was to one day meet the queen of the Unseelie Court to see if there was some common ground. But there is a third party-again, I was simply a monitor of activities, not a direct participant!”

“She is formidable; the Vampire speaks the truth,” Kiagehul called out in a shrill voice. “My queen, save me; I’ve been duped! She has not come for me.”

“I bet the baron did business with this unnamed third party,” Hunter said with a snarl.

“No…” Baron Montague said, smiling, his eyes glittering with rage. “You will have to make blood restitution before it is all said and done, wolf.”

“Care to put some more blood on the line?” Sasha said, turning her wrist up so that the magick pen could open a vein. “Once your black blood hits the pages of your testimony this time, even money says they’ll torch, Baron.”

“This hypocrisy and twisting of words and intent,” the baron said calmly, “is all a fraud.”

Queen Blatand narrowed her gaze on the baron and then on Elder Vlad. “Am I to understand that I have been brought all the way here from Iceland to learn that my court member is an outright liar?” She tsked. “Elder Vlad… what do you think it will do for detente if, after this man is beheaded, I find out that his argument had merit? Might that cause an unusual, albeit strained, alliance between my court and the Seelie like days of old? If any Fae finds they’ve been duped by another species, we, too, are known for our unrelenting grudges… We do have that in common with the Vampires.”

Elder Vlad stood and left the box. “I should not like to see us have a falling-out and create an unnatural power-base shift that is so thoroughly one-sided, dear queen. Balance is always the way to ensure no one group becomes unmanageable.”

“Cerridwen!” Sir Rodney called out as the queen left the box to walk with Elder Vlad. “I may have been many things, made many missteps, and our views and politics may have clashed, but I have never, ever, attacked you unprovoked.”

She stopped her retreat and something close to warmth filled her eyes. She cocked her pretty head to the side and wrinkled her smooth brow in disbelief. “Nor have I ever attacked you unprovoked, Rodney… What would make you even say such a thing? I had no hand in this.”

“Those were not your warriors, then, that fought against my men in the heart of New Orleans?” Sir Rodney held her gaze as the queen shook her head no.

“There was a force out there, animal in scent,” Sasha said quietly, glancing around the court. “Feral female.”

“Disembodied?” the queen said, looking at Kiagehul. “That is very dark magick, my dear… Whomever did you get to give up her body to increase your powers? That is never allowed without my express consent, for obvious reasons.”

The queen walked forward as the entire court silently watched, turned over her delicate wrist, and allowed the pen to strike her flawless skin. A slow, cool blue ooze slid from the small gash and the pen dipped itself in it and then signed the page of her entry. All waited and the book never even smoldered.

“Then how do you account for these men?” Sir Rodney said with less force in his tone.

His guards dragged in seven Unseelie fighters and she looked at them with disdain.

“Our courts are large. These men are anonymous to me. With profit from a source willing to pay mercenaries, I am sure they could have been bribed to carry out the vile acts the intemperate young she-wolf spoke of this evening.” She looked at her advisors. “Or there could be those who wanted to assure the release of Kiagehul, whether it was the right thing to do or not.” She returned her focus to Sir Rodney. “We should only war about things that are a matter between us, not others.”

“Then, if I put them to death for treason, milady,” Sir Rodney shouted, “you will not take that as an act of aggression against the Unseelie?”

“No,” she said calmly. “Some things we can discuss privately. I admit that I miss our warm chats… when there was a slight frost to the spring air… We found a way to compromise at times.” She looked Sir Rodney up and down and then turned away.

Sir Rodney turned toward his guards and lifted his chin. “Take them to the dungeons-in the morning there will be a firing squad.”

The courtroom remained rapt as the queen put away her wand and took Elder Vlad’s arm, sending a thin coating of icicles over his robes.

“But what about me?” Kiagehul shrieked, bitter tears now wetting his face.

The queen stopped walking, but did not turn to face him. “Who did you disembody, Kiagehul?”

“Lady Jung Suk,” Kiagehul whimpered.

“My aunt?” Shogun shouted, leaping out of his box and menacing the prisoner. “How? Why?”

Sasha shared a look with Hunter. Now the feral scent added up.

“I met her in the icy regions,” Kiagehul sobbed. “She wanted what I wanted-respect! A Snow Leopard’s strength, with shape-shifting ability… She was old, strong, and wiser than even the Vampires.”

“We smelled her at the site of both murders,” Sasha said in disbelief, her gaze going to Shogun.

Hunter nodded. “And at the Bayou House… She was stalking you.”

“The sigils on the bodies that we couldn’t identify…” Sir Rodney said, horrified.

“Ancient Chinese calligraphy, put there by a very old sorceress,” Shogun said between his teeth, almost lunging toward Kiagehul as he spat out the words.

“She carved them into those women as a disembodied spirit… Heresy!” Sir Rodney looked around the court. “Do ye hear this, all of you? A man blinds me within my own castle, having access to everything personal, even my advisors, my investigator, while all the while plotting treason and committing multiple felonies!”

“I had cause!” Kiagehul shouted back. “I got rid of that meddlesome Phoenix, who’d eavesdropped on Vampire gossip; got rid of her friend, too.” Wild-eyed, he looked at Baron Montague, pointing at him. “Had you not been gossiping, she would not have heard about the dark magick-so you killed her, not me! It was so easy for my Leopard sorceress to go to her, unseen, as pure spirit, and claw the foreign sigil that would make her flame right into her creamy flesh.” He released a pleased sigh and then returned his attention to Sir Rodney. “Milord, you should have seen them burn. It was beautiful. Almost as beautiful as executing Ethan’s bartender.”

“The man is mad,” Shogun said, stepping back. “I have never seen a viler creature in my life.”

“Put the sick bastard out of his misery,” Hunter muttered. “I don’t need to hear any more.”

Kiagehul blinked furiously, beginning to laugh in madness, his mind breaking under the pressure and the toxic effect of the rowan. “My Leopard taught me things of pleasure from ancient texts that I had never known… and