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I looked up to see two officers dragging her across the station ahead of me. If I thought the officers weren’t kind to me, it was nothing like how they treated Nadine. One of them had her by the hair, and the other held tight to her arm, where one of her bruises was clearly visible.
“Get off of her!” I shouted. I started struggling, though I knew I’d never make it out of the cuffs.
Someone smacked me in the back with something hard. I wasn’t sure if it was a baton or a spell or what the hell it was. It hurt so bad that I stumbled to my knees. Fuck!
When I looked up, Nadine was gone. No, no, no, no!
“On your feet!” one of the officers bellowed. The two officers yanked me upright and dragged me down the hall.
They led me through a guarded doorway into a room lined with three jail cells. The door on the end squeaked open as the officers tossed Nadine inside, shoving her so hard she landed on her knees. I witnessed her wince, but she didn’t let the officers see. Her hair concealed her face, and she sat there for several moments without protesting.
“That’s right, little bitch,” one of the officers sneered. “It’s time to give up. When you walk out of here, you’ll be headed to the gallows.”
“Stand down, Davenport,” Sheriff Baker commanded. “We have strict orders from the priestesses. They’re not to be harmed while awaiting trial.”
Like he gave a fuck. He didn’t have anything to say about the way they dragged her in here.
The officers undid my cuffs, then opened the closest door and shoved me inside. It left a cell between Nadine and me so we couldn’t reach each other. Our cells were small, barely five feet wide, with nothing but a metal bench attached to the wall for us to sit on.
The door clanged behind me, and I turned to curl my hands around the bars. “What trial, exactly?” I demanded. “What’s our crime?”
Sheriff Baker began reciting our charges like he had them memorized. “One felony count of attempting to overthrow the Imperium Council, two misdemeanor counts of unauthorized intercast spellwork, multiple felony charges of black magic use with intent to do harm, and seven charges of first-degree murder. Need I go on?”
The blood in my veins turned to ice. How could they possibly have that much on us? They had to be fabricating evidence, because it wasn’t true. But if the people believed it, we didn’t even stand a chance.
“If they think we’ve done all that, why are they giving us a trial at all?” I asked. “Why not just burn us at the stake? It’ll save you time and resources.”
“This is what you wanted, isn’t it? A chance for your voices to be heard?” Sheriff Baker smirked, and I knew it was far more than that. It was the Imperium Council’s way of making a show out of our execution. They had no intention of giving us a fair trial… only creating a spectacle to convert people to Miriam’s Chosen.
“The Imperium Council has no evidence to back up any of this,” I argued.
Sheriff Baker stepped inches away from my cell. He smirked and lowered his voice. “Believe me, boy. We’ve got all the evidence we need. Once your trial is over, you’re headed straight for the Abyss.”
Sheriff Baker turned from my cell, and he walked out of the room laughing as the other officers followed.
The second they were out of the room, I whirled toward Nadine’s cell. She was still on the ground, hair concealing her face. “Nad!” I cried. “Are you hurt?”
She pushed her hair behind her ear and sat upright, though her whole body shook. “I’m fine. How are you?”
My back was still sore from being beat, but I could handle it. “I’ll be all right. How did they find you?”
Nadine winced as she pulled herself onto the bench in the corner. “I came after you once we realized you were missing.”
“Verla let you come into town?” I balked.
“Goddess, no,” Nadine said. “I snuck out, same as you. I turned a corner, and the officers jumped me.”
“We’ll get out of this,” I promised. We had to.
Nadine dropped her gaze. “I don’t know if we can, Lucas.”
“We’ve defied the odds before. We’ll do it again.” I eyed the metal bars and tried to conjure a battle orb, but my magic was completely drained. “There’s got to be a way out of here.”
Nadine lifted her hand, but she could only manage a few sparks.
“How come your magic is working more than mine?” I asked. “It wasn’t working this morning.”
She furrowed her brow. “Maybe Curse Breakers recover from the Waning faster. Either way, my magic won’t be strong enough when it returns, not locked behind noxite bars. Our magic can’t help us.”
