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She turned around and placed her hands behind her back. “I’m not going to resist.”
How had her life ended up like this?
Clothes rustled behind her. Boots shuffled upon the wooden floor. “Stop this foolishness at once,” a male voice boomed.
Lila turned her head.
Chief Shaw stood in the middle of the courtroom, drawing everyone’s eye. He pinned his blackcoats with a severe gaze and pointed to the door. “Return to your post.”
“Sir?” one of his men asked.
“I said return to your post. I can’t let this farce go on any longer.”
Senator Masson picked up his gavel and eyed the sounding board once more. “Sir, these men have a job to do. They are honor-bound to take this prisoner to a holding cell, just as you—”
“No, I am honor-bound to—”
“Chief Shaw is a good man,” Lila said, glaring at the Bullstow chief. “He is understandably disappointed that he found a member of the militia betraying her calling. I apologize, sir, for letting you down. I am honored that you would deign to take me to the holding cell yourself, but surely you have much better uses of your time.”
Hopefully, Shaw would notice the warning beneath her words. She really didn’t want the man tranqed by a dozen religious workborn on a mission.
“I apologize as well,” Senator Masson said. “I know your men put a lot of effort into this case, but Dr. Vargas assured us that we cannot charge her for more, especially if we do not want to risk a lawsuit. There’s not enough evidence to—”
Shaw held up his hand and threaded through the benches. He strode down the center aisle and stopped beside Lila, his fingers picking once again at his sleeves. “Ms. Randolph is doing an admirable job of protecting me, so admirable that she’s nearly given herself a slave’s term, but I cannot allow her to throw away her life like this. She is still a young woman. An heir. And as an honorable man of Bullstow—for I still have my honor, gentlemen—I cannot allow this to continue. Ms. Randolph was not in BullNet without permission. She had mine.”
The senators stared at the blackcoat. No one said a word for a long time.
“Why on earth would you do such a thing?” Senator Masson asked.
“I needed a technical consultant. I asked her to help out on a case. If you wish to know more, we should retire to private chambers. It is privileged information that should not be in the public record.”
“I do not understand. You have an entire technical department, Chief Shaw. Why did you need a consultant?”
“Because I needed the best, and I needed someone outside Bullstow. Someone impartial.”
“So you went to the families?” Senator Hardwicke spat. “Are you mad? Why don’t you just run to the empire next time?”
“Cool it, Senator Hardwicke,” Masson warned, “else your season will become very cold, short, and unfruitful indeed.”
Shaw fixed both men with a stare. “When I say impartial, I mean it, senators. We’ll speak of the rest privately, but let me be clear: every charge against Ms. Randolph is a charge against our honor if we convict her. She did nothing I did not ask her to do, nothing I did not give her permission to do, nothing Bullstow did not gravely need. And she walked in here ready to be led to the gallows or the auction house f
or our well-being, for Saxony’s well-being. If you see fit to give her a slave’s term this morning, that term should be mine to bear.”
“You gave a highborn, perhaps a future prime, access to the state’s most private files?” Masson asked.
“I hired the best damn technical consult in the state, sir. Do not forget this woman served as captain of her family’s technical crimes department. She aided Bullstow in its greatest hour of need, even knowing she might end up in this very position. And even after you have condemned her, she has kept our secrets. She was prepared to spend her life paying for my incompetence, for Bullstow’s incompetence. That is the reason I hired her. She has an heir’s upbringing and her father’s code of ethics. Is this how we will repay her?”
Masson gripped his gavel. “Can you prove you hired her?”
“Since when is my word not enough?”
“Since you admitted to giving a highborn carte blanche in our network!”
Shaw licked his lips. “Yes, I have documentation, and I shall take responsibility for the consequences of my actions, but I had no other choice.”
Lila breathed out slowly. So far, he had kept her father out of his confession, but his plea to free her might very well condemn her to a longer sentence.
“You will talk to us privately. Both of you,” Senator Masson ordered, his face paling as he scanned the curious eyes in the room. “I want everyone out, everyone except Chief Shaw and Ms. Randolph. Even you, Mr. Marquez, as well as our esteemed colleagues.”
