Fall Out Boy’s Centuries blasted the assembly and shook the windows of the buildings surrounding us. Phones started blaring the song along with the rhythmic honking of horns in time with the music from the cars that lined the streets, as well as the apartment buildings that were close enough for their magic to reach.
I shed my invisibility glamour and quickly moved until I was walking up the steps.
“Stop her!” one of the Witches screamed, trying to be heard over the music.
“Let her try to save them,” Harold said, and I narrowed my eyes on him. “Well, well, it’s Synthia McKenna, from the Spokane Guild,” he sneered as he moved to the iron.
I smiled and then moved with inhuman speed. The same speed that Danu had, which was faster than light. I knew the cameras were watching. I also knew that I didn’t have the time to be diplomatic right now, not with the Fae in the crowd planning to attack the Guild in front of the cameras. It would be war for sure if they did that.
“Oh, I’m not here to stop you. I’m here to deliver punishment to my people. The Fae do not punish you when you break the laws. It’s only judgment if both parties agree. Luckily for you, I do. I was, after all, part of this world. I followed your orders, and I was one of your best Enforcers, Harold. Do you not agree?” I didn’t wait for his response as I began the judgment of these unfortunate Fae.
I searched their minds and viewed the deeds of which they were being accused. Some were worse than others, but all deserved death. They had, in fact, been ordered to feed openly by Tatiana. She should have done as we’d instructed, because now she would die. She may not care about her people, but I would make damn sure she got the message of what would happen should this feeding frenzy continue. She’d be watching because the woman simply loved drama, and she was probably now watching the TV and enjoying the outcome from the safety of her comfy couch.
“You know the laws, and yet you chose to feed openly?” I asked the Fae that were being held down.
“She is our Queen!” one shouted, speaking for the entire group.
“No, she is no longer a Queen. She was deposed and banished from Faery. Now she will be marked, and she will also find death, as you do now,” I said softly.
“You are not a Queen!” he raged.
“Not yet,” I agreed. “I’m sorry you chose to follow her.”
I shook my head and then looked up as I felt one of the Witches tried to spell me. “I wouldn’t do that,” I said with a small smirk on my lips as I broke the incantation she tried to cast on me; as if it was a spell from a novice.
I turned my focus on the Fae who stood accused. I walked to one and helped him up from where he’d been kneeling on the stairs, and as the entire world watched, I searched my mind for a way to make a statement that wouldn’t scare the Humans too much. I smiled when I finally found it. “You stand accused of killing Humans, which the Fae now acknowledge as a crime as well. You are sentenced to death. Ashes to ashes…dust to dust,” I finished barely above a whisper. I brought my hand up to weave the spell, and as I watched him, he turned to ash and disintegrated on to the steps of the Guild.
The Humans in the crowd gasped in horror, but the news cameras watched, recording it all for those who hadn’t come to the Guild. Oops. It wasn’t quite what I had planned, but it worked.
I swallowed and met Ryder’s eyes, and then scanned the faces of the men, as well as Lucian who had joined them again. I waited for Ryder, and as he nodded, I moved to the next until each of the accused lay in ashes on the steps of the Guild.