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“Ice chips. Yes. I’ll ask a nurse.” He goes to the station, and I see how his hair is ruffled, and he must have pulled clothes on over top of his pajamas. I look down at myself. I am wearing jeans and a shirt that’s wrinkled from Mercedes twisting it and from me sleeping in it. I wanted to be ready to go, so I’ve been sleeping fully dressed for the past week. Mercedes laughed at the idea.
A nurse returns with Georgie. She takes a look at me and grins knowingly. “Here you go. Your wife will be grateful for these.”
“Thank you,” I say, taking the cup. “You coming?” I ask Georgie wondering why the fuck I’m asking him. Almost as though he’d be my ally.
“Hell no. I hear her fine from out here.”
The nurse chuckles, and I reenter the room where, over the next few hours, Mercedes goes through what I can imagine to be horrific pain without agreeing to the epidural I would have taken hours ago. I know she’s hoping for a natural birth without a C-section, which may not be possible with twins. But I don’t know why I even think that when I hear the first little cry of a brand-new voice. Because if anyone can do this, can bend fate to their will, it’s my wife.
And as Ariana is handed to me while the doctor attends to her brother, I feel my own eyes well with emotion.
Lawson joins us just moments later, and it’s as though he’s searching for his sister, desperate to be reunited with her because he wails, his little face bright pink with anger until they are weighed, wiped down, and swaddled, then laid on their mother’s breast where he worms his spindly little arm out of the swaddle to lay his hand on his sister’s cheek.
It’s only then they quiet. And fuck. It’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life.
29
Judge
Several months later
* * *
It’s late when Santiago and I walk into Hildebrand’s office at The Tribunal building. Tomorrow, Mercedes and I leave on our honeymoon along with our entire extended, somewhat dysfunctional family. Not how I expected to spend my honeymoon, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. And I am determined not to let Hildebrand’s dour face and demeanor cloud even one second of it. Mercedes and I have traveled a very long, very hard road to get here. And now that we’ve arrived, I won’t allow anyone to cast their shadow over our family, our future, or our happiness.
“Judge, Santiago,” Hildebrand says, standing to greet us with a smile I’ve come to know. It’s the one you never see standing before the three Councilors of The Tribunal when they are seated in official robes. He reserves this smile for when he knows the playing ground is level. Because Councilor Hildebrand does not like a level playing field. Never has.
“Councilor,” Santiago says dismissively. I wonder which of us likes this man less.
“Hildebrand,” I greet with a nod, choosing not to use the title he is too happy with.
His eyes narrow infinitesimally, but he forces that smile to widen and directs us to have a seat in the two chairs set before his desk. He is so calculated, even switching out furnishings depending on the situation and, even more importantly, the visitor.
“I thought you’d be coming alone, Judge.”
“Considering it was my sister’s wedding that was crashed, and she was the target, I felt it more than appropriate I be present,” Santiago answers before I can.
“Well, yes, of course. But Mr. Montgomery and I have some Tribunal business to discuss—”
“Nothing that can’t be discussed in front of my brother-in-law,” I tell him. I will keep no more secrets from my friend.
Hildebrand gives a disapproving exhale and settles into his chair, which is like a throne behind his desk. He wants me to sit as a Councilor on The Tribunal. And as I watch him I wonder more and more if the course my grandfather and Hildebrand set for me isn’t where I’ll do the most good. If I do it, though, it will be on my terms.
“First, allow me to congratulate you on your nuptials and the birth of your children, Judge,” Hildebrand starts. He takes a small box out of his desk drawer and pushes it toward me. “For your daughter.” The IVI bracelet all girls are gifted upon birth.
“Thank you,” I say, leaving the box where it is. I’ll take it home, but I can’t guarantee Ariana will be wearing it anytime soon. I’ll leave that to Mercedes to decide. Because ultimately, it’s a mark of ownership already. My daughter is a member of our Society, even if she is a Sovereign daughter. And that means something. And then there’s my son. A Sovereign Son like myself. Like Santiago and even Hildebrand. Privileged beyond belief. The world open to him. To her, too, but to a lesser extent.
“I trust you are fully recovered from the unfortunate incident earlier this year, Judge?”
The unfortunate incident of him requiring the full extent of punishment for Mercedes’s role in bringing unwanted attention to The Society. For my invoking the Vicarius clause and taking that punishment over.
“I am, thank you for your concern.” He is not concerned. It’s that playing field he would like to tip in his favor.
“Now that we’ve dispatched with the pleasantries,” Santiago starts, emphasizing the word pleasantries. “Perhaps you can tell me how an armed outsider managed to get on IVI grounds on the night of my sister’s wedding and attempt to kill her, succeed in almost killing her husband and her brother-in-law, who, by the way, was the man who brought Vincent Douglas down. Not an IVI guard of whom there were plenty.”
“What are you suggesting, Mr. De La Rosa?”
“I’m not suggesting anything. I’d just like to know what the hell happened that night.”
