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But the full impact of that suspicion didn't hit him until they led him into a cavernous, private hearing chamber at the GNC's headquarters building. There he found himself staring at a panel of all sixteen Council members, seated on a dais behind a broad U-shape judicial bench. At the center of the assembly was Lucan Thorne, looking grave in his role as chairman.
Most of the Order's elder members were present as well, the warriors and their mates seated on rows of benches below the dais.
But the thing that really put a jangle of alarm in Kellan's veins was the sight of Mira standing directly in front of the Council. Outfitted in black fatigues and combat boots, her long blond hair woven into a tight braid that snaked down her back, she was dressed for the hearing as though she'd come prepared for war.
What the hell was she doing?
Kellan nearly shouted it to her, but then she pivoted around to face him as his guards shoved him forward into the room. Her cheeks were flushed, eyes rimmed with red as she looked his way.
Her eyes . . . ah, Christ. Her eyes looked straight at him, no longer milky and unfocused, but bright behind the violet contact lenses and fixed squarely on him.
She'd been healed.
She could see.
He'd been afraid to trust the bond that told him earlier that day she was whole again, but now he felt a surge of elation - of bone-deep relief - to see for himself that either Tess or Rafe had been able to do for Mira what he'd been unable to with his blood.
Now he wanted to run to her and sweep her into his arms. He would have, if he didn't suspect his sudden break would invite the JUSTIS officers walking him into the hearing room to open fire on him and possibly Mira in the process.
The guards guided him forward, a pair of Breed males on each side of him, the two humans at his back. Kellan didn't miss the grim faces of the Order and their Breedmates nor the disapproving glowers of the majority of men and women seated on the dais. He was there to be judged - here and now - his guilt perhaps already determined, if the pall of heavy silence in the room was any indication.
And there was Mira, facing the Council on her own.
Even without the foreknowledge her vision had given him, Kellan understood Mira's presence in the hearing room. She'd come to plead her case before the judges. For him.
His beautiful, stubborn Mira.
His steadfast mate, standing with him even though he knew he'd broken her heart by turning himself in.
Pride and humility tangled inside him. He hadn't wanted her to be a part of this. And yet he knew there would have been no keeping her away.
As she looked at him now, her face collapsed in distress. She pivoted back around to Lucan and the Council members. "No, wait! Please, hear me out. Kellan is no killer. He was trying to save lives - to prevent a dangerous technology from being released. That's why he took Jeremy Ackmeyer. I'm not trying to excuse what he did, I only ask that you consider why he did it."
At the far end of the dais, an elderly human with sunken eyes and an unhealthy pallor cleared his throat. "The Council has heard your argument. All factors will be evenly weighed as the Council makes its determination in this matter."
"Director Benson," Mira implored, turning to face the old man directly. "I realize that this hearing is personal for you too. Jeremy was your nephew. He was a good man, an innocent man. I am truly sorry for your family's loss. I want you to know that Kellan tried to save him. After he realized the truth, Kellan did everything he could to find Jeremy. He tried to correct his mistakes, but it was too late - "
"Enough!" The old man's outburst shot through the assembly like gunfire. His heavy-lidded eyes were sluggish as he looked around the chamber, his gray head drooping between his slumped shoulders. "I've heard . . . quite enough. Please, let's have done with this."
A look from Lucan brought Nikolai out of the audience to collect Mira. She struggled at first, throwing a worried gaze in Kellan's direction as Niko led her back to her seat.
Kellan felt her distress echo through his veins as the armed guards directed his approach to the dais. They brought him to a halt before the Council, and Lucan's sober eyes settled on him.
"Kellan Archer," he announced to all those gathered. "Because of the unique circumstances of your case as a former member of the Order, the Council has agreed to a private hearing of the charges against you and a determination of your sentence by majority vote today. We have reviewed the crimes you stand accused of and have heard statements delivered on your behalf. These are serious crimes, calling for serious punishment. Guilt on any one of the charges carries a penalty of death."
"I understand," Kellan replied, taking in the solemn faces of the men and women who would decide his fate. He saw little mercy in any of them.
Then again, he'd expected none.
He listened as, one by one, the charges against him were read, then he gave his response to each of them. He hardly registered the words. All of his thoughts - all of his senses - were trained on the only person in the room who mattered to him.>No doubt they also realized that an annihilation like the one they had planned for the summit gathering could very well incite full-scale war between the vampire nation and mankind.
War that could last for decades. Or longer.
"No sacrifice is too great for the ultimate cause of a lasting peace," the leader of the conspirators reminded them. "A true peace that can only be had with the Order out of our way."
The group answered in unanimous agreement. Then someone began to chant the cabal's motto: "Pax opus nostrum."
One by one, each member joined in, until the phrase rumbled so loudly, Benson worried Martha might hear it through the walls of his secret hideaway in their ill-gotten abode. But he knew all eyes were on him, so he picked up the chant too, murmuring the Latin phrase that proclaimed "Peace is our work."
