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Nova spent her entire workday lost in her own head. She worried about everything that could go wrong during the execution. Brent had been in really bad shape. What if he forgot about the pill, or lost it, or swallowed it without opening it first?
She also thought about Altair. She couldn’t help it. The memory of his soft skin under the palms of her hands, his strong arms holding her, his mouth… yeah, the memory was etched in her brain. But she thought about their conversation that morning too, both eager and scared to find out what Altair would do.
They’d agreed to meet at the prison since he had to be there all day anyway. Nova arrived at the same time as a group of Baeddan clan citizens. She followed them inside.
They didn’t go the way the prison guards had taken her and the other prisoners when she’d been arrested. Instead, they walked to the side of the building to a set of large double-doors that had received a fresh coat of paint recently.
Inside was a large room full of people. Despite the crowd, the room was eerily quiet. Few people dared to talk and those who did whispered.
Nova looked around for Altair but couldn’t find him. She did see Rex standing in the corner talking to a couple of Mudden military men. He did not acknowledge her presence in any way, even when his gaze met hers. Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen either.
One of the four walls was made of glass. On the other side, she saw what looked like a wooden stage with a bar above it and a rope hanging in the middle. Her heart beat faster at the sight of it. One false move on her part and she could be the one hanging from that rope.
She tried to clear her head, using a technique she used when on the job. She found an empty spot, leaned against a wall, and focused on her breathing.
Altair walked in from a side room. He looked around him, worried. When his eyes laid on her, he smiled and his face lit up. Her heart pounded harder.
She pushed off from the wall and walked toward him.
The smile on his face didn’t dim as he leaned in to whisper in her ear.
“I told Gary we weren’t going to do the execution. I’m about to make the announcement now.”
Nova’s entire body relaxed, and this time she did smile back. She wanted to thank him, but he wasn’t supposed to know her connection to Brent so she said instead, “Good. You must be relieved.”
Gary came in through the same door as Altair, and all eyes turned on him.
Altair exchanged a look with him and went to stand in front of the glass wall to face the people in the room.
“The hanging has been canceled,” he said loudly to be heard by the crowd. The crowd gasped. Gary, who was standing next to Nova, smiled meanly. “Instead, Brent will be held in jail until more concrete evidence can be brought against him.”
Uh-oh. Elizabeth may not be happy about this.
Gary came forward to stand next to Altair.
“You don’t have the right to do that,” he said loudly, making sure everyone in the room could hear him. “His case was overseen by a judge and the punishment decided. It is my job to make sure it is carried out.”
“I’m a Dougal, I have the right to decide the punishment in a Mudden investigation.”
Nova winced.This is exactly the kind of thing that makes people think you’re an arrogant ass, she wanted to say to him.
“You think being a Dougal puts you above the law?”
There was a lot of chatter coming from the crowd, none of what she could hear was flattering toward Altair.
“No,” he said, his face turning red. “It puts me above you. We will postpone the execution until I have talked to the judge.”
Nova had a feeling it was the first he’d heard that a judge had seen this case.
“No.” Gary pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Altair. “Not when you are outranked.”
“Who here outranks me?”
“I do,” Gary said with a cocky smile.
Altair looked at the paper, and his face went from angry to shocked and back to angry as he read.
