Sirius turned to look back at her. She could see the worry in his face, worry for her.

  “Please step forward.” Renault gestured gently.

  Amanda did as asked. She’d given witness before but this was somehow worse. They were going to ask about the day that Michael had cornered her. It wasn’t a day she liked being reminded of.

  Another glance at Sirius made her feel a little better. She steeled her nerves and prepared for their questions.

  Renault asked the first one. “Can you tell us what happened?”

  “I was checking on Ghost… the black pegasus and Michael came into the room. There was a disagreement over Ghost’s care. Michael hadn’t been treating him proper. I thought the discussion was done so I turned my back on him, when he grabbed me by the hair.” Her voice shook slightly.

  She paused briefly. She hadn’t even told Sirius the details of what had happened and now she was giving them to a room full of strangers.

  “Then Ghost bit him, to protect me.” Her voice got stronger with every word, as memories of the day came flooding back and her anger toward Michael reignited. “So he started hitting Ghost. I tried to stop him, and he put his hands around my throat. Then he tried to put them up my shirt.”

  There she paused again, wondering how her own actions would look in that context. Had she been justified? With all their history with the fire islanders including what had happened with Nigel, how would they view her powers?

  “I burned him,” she admitted. “Just his hands. Just enough to get him to stop touching me. He hit me and that’s when the others arrived.”

  She had not been as detailed with that retelling as she had been with the one about Ghost. She hated that he was all cooped up while they deliberated his fate. The crew had been leading him around the deck, but it was nothing compared to flying.

  “Who arrived and what happened when they did?” Renault prompted.

  Amanda gave a description of the rest of the events.

  “You seem very calm for such a traumatic event,” Marie remarked suspiciously.

  Amanda decided she no longer liked Marie.

  “Were you angry with him?” Ren asked.

  Amanda narrowed her eyes at him. Surely they didn’t expect her of causing Michael’s death. “I didn’t stab him if that’s what you’re asking,” she replied evenly, doing the best to keep the heat out of her voice. Although, given Marie’s remark, she wasn’t sure which emotion was the best one to have right now.

  Amanda looked over toward Sirena’s side of the room and was surprised to see that the woman was staring at the floor. She almost looked like she was sorry.

  Ren didn’t miss a beat. “What about Sirius? Did he seem angry when you told him?”

  Amanda gritted her teeth together.

  “Oh, leave the girl alone.” That was Mickey. “She’s obviously been through enough and she’s given her description of the events.”

  But it was Sandy’s question that caused the whole room to go silent. “How do you know he was stabbed?”

  It hadn’t been brought up during the trial yet, the manner of death and she hadn’t realised that. Truthfully, she had no way of knowing for sure if Michael had been stabbed. No one had mentioned it. She’d just assumed it because she was reasonably confident that Shiv was the murderer. She needed to say something before her silence confirmed her guilt but she could not for the life of her think of a good excuse.

  Sirius could. “I told her.”

  His reply pierced through her like a javelin. Surely he wasn’t about to own up for murder just to save her? That was exactly the sort of heroic act he would do, stupid fool.

  All eyes turned his way.

  But Sirius was no stupid fool. “It was the gossip that was going around. The talk in the bars was that he’d been stabbed. It is the most likely cause of death given where he died. I told her that.”

  “One would think drowning would be more likely in Scarlett,” Marie replied.

  “Not for a mugging,” Sirius said.

  Ren cocked his head. “You assume it was a mugging?”

  “It’s the most likely cause,” Sirius replied.

  “And yet,” spoke Sirena, lifting her head and curling her lip, “He was found with coins still on him.”

  “Maybe he pissed someone off,” replied Amanda sharply before she realised how threatening that sounded.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Ren cocked an eyebrow. “Indeed.”

  “Sirius didn’t do it. He’s the most honorable man I’ve ever met. He doesn’t get angry, ever. And if I’d killed Michael, he wouldn’t have been stabbed.” Amanda turned to Sirena. “He was stabbed wasn’t he?”

  Sirena didn’t answer but her silence worked as a confirmation.

  “It wasn’t them.” Napkin, the old vampire had opened his eyes. Amanda was surprised to find they were a pale lavender in color with swirls of an almost blue, like someone had forgotten to mix the paint properly. He waved a sheet of paper that had recently been distributed to the council. “The report indicates that both were in jail at the time Michael was killed.”

  There was some muttering and the shuffling of paper as the other council members confirmed his statement. Meanwhile, Napkin closed his eyes again and appeared to return to sleep. He was so still, he almost looked dead.

  “He probably ordered one of the crew to do it for him,” Sirena argued.

  “He wouldn’t do that,” Amanda shot back.

  “That would make him responsible if that is the case,” Marie said, agreeing with Sirena and ignoring Amanda.

  Amanda had to bite he tongue to stop herself from speaking too quickly. It would do no good if she upset the council. Instead, she took a page out of Sirius’s book, and thought before she spoke. Imagining the calm and collected, but clear tone that Sirius always took, she made her case.

  “You say Sirius was responsible because he’s the captain, but he wasn’t even captain during a decent portion of that journey. The crew voted him off the ship and left him marooned on an island. Ask any of the crew, they’ll confirm it.”

  “Who was captain?” Ren asked.

  Amanda saw Sirius shift out of the corner of her eye. A glance his way, and she could see panic in his posture. He was worried she was going to turn in Shiv to save him. But that wasn’t her plan at all.

  “No one was. They couldn’t come to an agreement. The quartermaster ran some things but nobody was captain,” Amanda said.

  “Shiv was in charge?” Beatrice asked.

  Amanda shook her head. “No, they voted him out as well, because of changes he tried to make in the kitchen.”

  “You mean the galley?” Renault asked.

  “Yes.”

  More note-taking. She wished she knew what they were all writing.

  They called forth more witnesses from the crew and to Amanda’s surprise, they all backed her story. It probably helped that it was kinda true. By the time they had all reached Scarlett, who was captain had been somewhat up in the air.

  “Where is Shiv?” Beatrice asked. “I would like to ask him some questions.”

  “He’s on the ship,” Sirius replied, “Prepping for sail.”

  “Must we call another?” asked Benjamin, who by this point appeared to have grown quite tired of the proceedings. “We have already several of the crew. What more could we learn?”

  “It is up to Sirena.” Renault gave her a questioning look.

  Sirena shook her head. “Shiv was the only one who was nice to Michael while he was on that ship.”

  Amanda tried to hide her surprise.

  She met Sirius’s eyes. His face was a rock, at least to everyone else. Not a hint of a smile. But she could see the glint in his eyes, and a warning look, one that said, ‘please don’t laugh’.

  She had to look away or she was certain to do just what he did not want. There was nothing like laughter to ruin a murder trial.

  They moved on to the accusations leveled at Sirena, the ones not covered so far. Both Sirena and Sirius accused each other of smuggling but Amanda quickly got the impression that most of the council cared only for that which went against their own laws, which turned out to be surprisingly little.

  Amanda had to speak again. This time, about Sirena’s attack against her. She could still feel those slimy tentacles wrapped around her skin, and the knife at her throat, the threatening words in her ear but after hearing Sirena speak about Michael, after sitting for so long in this room watching her reactions and replies, the woman had become progressively less and less threatening as the day wore on. Talking about the event was like the final cut that dropped the curtain, turning a monster into a regular woman and tentacles into nothing but seaweed.

  Sirena didn’t deny what she’d done either. To Amanda’s surprise, she admitted it, but she justified it with arguments about how they’d treated Michael.

  Amanda wondered just what Michael had told Sirena, and just how Shiv had managed to get on the guy’s good side. She supposed Shiv had let Michael out of the room they’d locked him in, and the crew had complained several times about how Shiv had made them be nice to Michael. The idea of Shiv playing nice with anyone still weirded her out though.

  She still wasn’t sure how the council would make their judgments. Would they go on the evidence or on gut feel? The rules weren’t what she was used to. They may have had some things in common with Little Rock, but even those courts Amanda wasn’t that familiar with, beyond bailing her father out on drunk and disorderly charges a few times, and that one time she’d been caught shoplifting. She’d been much younger then.

  She still wasn’t sure how the council would vote. Renault seemed like the kind of guy who would follow the evidence. He liked order. She could tell from the way he ran the meeting. Sure, they hadn’t done everything in the original order, but there had been good reasons for that, and anytime they’d gotten too off track, Renault had pulled them back to what they should be focusing on. Sandy, and Benjamin too, both seemed the more sensible sort.

  Beatrice was obviously full of passion and Amanda wasn’t sure they’d convinced her that Sirius wasn’t responsible for Michael’s death, even if only indirectly. Amanda got the impression that Ren and Marie were both suspicious of them too.

  She would have put Eddie and Nap on Sirius’s side, except Sirius had said that they tended to vote the same way Ren did. Klaus was certainly more flexible with interpretation of the law but Amanda wasn’t so sure that helped now that she felt the evidence was weaker than an attentive person’s intuitive suspicion. Shiv had murdered Michael, and Beatrice had certainly picked up on that line, although for whatever reason she hadn’t pushed for Shiv to be called to questioning beyond her original request.

  The stern looking vampire, Amanda couldn’t read at all, but he certainly didn’t look very nice. Then there was Mickey. He seemed nice. At least they could probably count on his vote. Glory, she suspected would likely go along with the majority. She seemed easily swayed. And Mephistopheles was the one who would likely do the persuading. He was the linchpin, Amanda decided. If only they could convince him.

  It was well after midday by the time they got through the rest of the evidence and interviews.

  Finally, Renault addressed the room. “Does anyone have anything more to say before we commence judgment.

  Amanda was trying to rack her brain as to how they could convince Mephistopheles but it was hard to think. The picnic earlier had been great at the time but that was now hours ago and she was hungry. Her thoughts kept returning to one question; when is lunch?

  Something else must have had a similar idea, for no sooner had Beatrice raised her hand to indicate that she would like to speak, than a horde of teaspoons suddenly rained down from the ceiling.