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Cole gives me a small nod before stepping back again.
Murmurs and whispers echo around the room from the now separated groups, each keeping to their own people. Looks of uncertainty and unease are directed toward the men behind me.
Ilyric clears his throat and begrudgingly steps forward.He glances toward Lucien with a look of annoyance on his face. Lucien’s grin grows while watching him.
“Lucien.” He sighs, pointing toward him.
“He is,unfortunately,a frequent visitor of the Second Sector.” His face holds so much annoyance and irritation from having to defend the supe.
Lucien waves his hand, a mocking regal gesture as he grins.
“Agraciouspatron for many years now.”
And I have to stifle a laugh at the pure joy in his eyes as he smugly looks toward Ilyric.
“Yes. Howluckywe’ve been,” he grits out through a sarcastic smile and heavy roll of his eyes.
Lucien smirks at Ilyric, a taunting gleam twinkling in his black eyes. He seemed to take great pleasure in annoying that Fae and watching him struggle, or maybe that was just people in general.
“Fine. What about the other one?” The lower demon points to Jace, his head still tilted low as he looks toward my shifter.
Jace flinches with the accusation, his eyes widening as all stares turn toward him.
“I’m not a staff member or a regular patron either. It was actually one of my first trips in a Library Sector…well, not including as a kid, school trips and all that.” He gives them a small smile and shrugs, his sociable demeanor shining through.
“Wait!” Aileen jerks forward from the Third Sector's group, an intense look in her eye as she narrows her eyes at Jace.
“You'rethe guy we had detained in our Library!” The crowd goes quiet as Aileen moves to the middle of the room, placing herself at the center of everyone's attention as she glares at Jace, pointing a firm finger in his direction.
Jace shakes his head.“That was a misunderstanding—” he begins before being cut off by Aileen. “You were trying to steal an artifact from the third level floor of the Library.”
Jace shakes his head and continues to protest, saying, "It's a misunderstanding."
“How was it a misunderstanding? You were caught red-handed by our Guard Majest, and he was going to place you in detainment just before we were attacked.” Her eyes flash open wide, her pointed finger now trembling. “It was you, wasn’t it?You’rethe traitor.”
Jace's eyes double in size, blown wide by the accusation.
And I can no longer watch on as she shouts toward him, her accusations turning the opinions of everyone in the room against Jace, their glare and pointed looks directed entirely toward him now. I stand in front of him, blocking him from their dark gazes.
“As I’ve said before,wewill be looking into everything andeveryone’sstories.” My tone is cutting and cold as I glare at Aileen and those gathered around her.
Silence fills the room bar a small mumbling sound from behind me. “It wasn’t me. I wouldneverdo anything like this,” murmurs Jace, his eyes lost and pleading as I turn toward him.
I open my mouth, wanting to reassure him, but just as I do, I’m suddenly cut off.
“Thenwhywould you steal it?” A slender man with mousy brown hair steps forward, an indifferent expression on his face as he walks from the Third Sector group and stands beside Aileen. “It was a protection artifact, wasn’t it?” He turns to Aileen.
“Yes, Gregori.” She nods, her glare pointing back toward Jace. “And it wasjustbefore the attack?” His brow raises in question. He turns toward Jace, a nefarious glint in his eyes.
“Sounds like there's a lot of strong evidence against you.”
Jace steps beside me, “It's all a misunderstanding…I promise. I don't have anything to do with the attacks. I didn't even know that it was a protection artifact—” He stops, his face scrunching up, immediately realizing his mistake.
“So you admit you were trying to steal it?!” shouts a woman from the Third Sector group.
The rest of the group begin to raise their voices, calling for answers or retribution, their minds already made up.
“He needs to explain why he was trying to steal a protection artifact!”
