Chapter 20: One Choice

Margo's POV

The council hall was packed to the doors the next night.

I sat in the front row with my arm in a sling.

Lucian sat beside me with Rosalind's hand in his.

She wore a green dress that had been his mother's, and she held her head up.

The eldest rapped her cane.

"The house of Lowell is in exile," she said.

"Its sire is in the Hierarchy's cells. Its heir is a fugitive. Their servants have no master."

She looked at the side door.

"Bring in the human."

Two guards brought Bridget in.

She still wore the grey maid's dress.

Her hair hung loose, and her wrist was bare, so every person in the hall could see the marks.

She stopped in the middle of the floor and did not raise her head.

"Bridget Sayer," said the eldest.

"Under our law, a human who knows the Hierarchy must be sponsored by a house. Yours was Lowell."

"Yes, Madam."

"Lowell has fallen. You have no sponsor, no protection, and no standing in this city."

"Yes, Madam."

"Who will speak for her?"

Nobody did.

Four hundred pairs of eyes stayed pinned to the floor.

Bridget's shoulders began to shake.

I stood.

The sling pulled at my shoulder, and Lucian's hand closed on my wrist.

"Margo," he said, very low.

"I know."

I walked to the middle of the floor and stood in front of her.

She lifted her head.

Her eyes were swollen, and she looked young.

For a second she was the girl who sat on my dorm room floor, eating cold noodles and telling me about her mother.

I made myself look past it.

"Madam," I said. "I'll speak for her."

A murmur went through the hall.

"Miss Ellison, she was your friend," said the eldest.

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