“Yes. I was given the money by the head accountant, and when I attempted to leave the estate, the money was taken from me by Kas.”
Kas’s hands twitched.
“He physically took the money from your hands?” Hal asked.
“Yes.”
For a moment, it looked as though Kas would speak up, but he held it in. His control over his expressions was enthralling.
“How much of your fortune was contained in that silver?” Hal asked.
Caeda looked puzzled.
“Properties, savings, prospects…?” Hal prompted. “When you briefly held those silver coins, how much of your assets did they represent?”
A distinct look of humiliation crossed the woman’s face. “I rent a room in the city, so I don’t own any property. And my savings…are one hundred and thirty silvers.”
There was a ripple of muted laughter across the room. Caeda kept her head high through the humiliation, though perhaps seeing that the judge was staring at the one opposing her utterly besotted, she might have been kinder to herself by looking at the floor.
“Roughly half, then. Very well.” Hal finally took his eyes from the terrible beauty and gestured to an official-looking man at a desk of his own, who raised his pen to write.
“Kas Seare, as repayment for robbing your mother’s late bookkeeper of half her assets, you will surrender to her—without delay—half of your assets.”
The terrible beauty leapt to his feet. “What?”
Austin turned to Tristan, his surprise too much to quash. His own question was very similar.
With a grin, Tristan motioned for Austin to keep listening.
“She was owed one hundred and twenty silvers! I will give her that; I can give her double that without issue, buthalfof my assets? My prince…” Kas was trembling in indignation. “Perhaps you do not realise, but my assets are great.”
“I have a list here of your assets,” Hal said. “And as I have read it, I am well aware of them. Your fortune is such that a hundred silvers, two, or ten times that, is no deterrent at all against trying to rob someone again. It is a petty fine. I find you guilty, and your punishment is that you will experience theexactcrime you inflicted.”
Hal stood, prompting all those spectating to stand as well. The moment he stepped out from behind the podium, the spectators came to life, excited, appalled and shocked voices all mingling together. Kas was as speechless as Caeda, who seemed to have gone into shock.
Austin turned once more to Tristan. “I thought your brother was in love with Kas, the way he was watching him.”
“He likely is,” Tristan said with amused fondness. “But he isobsessed with his justice systems. He’s been on this one for two years now: matching the crime to the punishment,exactly.”
“And won’t Kas just kill—ah, but—”
“A great risk to take, now that he’s learned Hal’s admiring eye won’t spare him should he be found guilty of murder.”
Austin tried to process it. He had, on some level, assumed a city packed full of superhuman creatures would be nothingbut power struggles and survival of the fittest. He had grown up knowing that everything in life had a price, every crime a cost that, if you paid, left you free to indulge. But as a merman, Halwasthe pinnacle of power, and his brother supported him with his power too.
And what Hal chose to do with his power was—
“Justice!” The word burst out of Austin in utter bewilderment.
Tristan smiled. “His life’s dream. We grew up in a vicious court where crime was abundant, but punishment was dealt out only against those too weak to seek vengeance for it. Our father’s sidestepping of the law taught Hal a good deal about how to prevent it here.”
To have all that power and choose to do something good with it. The idea couldn’t fit inside Austin’s head. He thought of his fortune waiting in his own world. His inheritance had always stunk of something tainted. Money was power, and power was a horrendous thing. But as he turned Hal’s ruling over in his mind—the punishment, the accountability, the awful precision of it—he thought of Tammy. “My assistant is cleaning up an oil spill in Peru with my resources. And we’re saving the polar bears.” He looked at Tristan, waiting.
“Bears we have in abundance, but I haven’t heard of polar bears before. Are they nearby? I could go take a look.”
Austin’s lips twitched. “It would be a long swim. Their habitat is up near the North Pole, where it’s all ice caps. It’s freezing up there.”
“I’m Northern-raised and quite suited to the cold.”
