Chapter 7 made that painfully clear.
Now the questions begin, and the answers may prove more dangerous than anyone expects.
Truth is difficult enough when everyone wants it.
Chapter 8 has other ideas.
Welcome to Chapter 8.
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One of the attackers pushes farther through the ruined entrance, timber crunching beneath his boots as he raises a hand and points directly at me. Unnatural light burns through his eyes, sharpening the conviction already twisting his face.
"She calls herself divine," he spits. "We know the truth. She carries something ancient, something corrupt."
A second warrior steps through behind him, his gaze following the faint gold moving beneath my skin. "That power never came from above. You're looking at a curse dressed in light."
My chest tightens before I can stop it.
Ryan said almost the same thing while drunk enough to mistake cruelty for courage, and Alec put him in hospital for it. Somewhere between that alley and tonight, those words travelled through conversations I never heard, gathering fear with every retelling until strangers became certain enough to break into my home and threaten everyone inside it.
A faint scrape sounds behind me as Alec shifts his footing.
His arms hang loosely at his sides while his attention remains fixed upon the men standing inside our entrance. One finger curled toward his palm, followed by another, until a thin spark snaps between them and disappears.
"They chained me for this."
His voice is so quiet that I almost miss it.
My attention shifts fully toward him.
"Alec..."
His gaze stays on the men ahead.
"One drunk called you evil, and I spent the day in chains." Another spark snaps between his fingers, brighter this time. "These people smash through your front door, threaten everyone inside and bring the same accusation into your home."
The nearest attacker sneers.
"Because this time, people are finally listening."
Alec's jaw tightens.
"Like I told Ryan, what Max carries is divine, and nothing I've seen has ever given me reason to doubt that." His eyes move across the warriors filling our ruined entrance. "I've watched her risk her life for people she barely knew. I've watched her use that power to save people who couldn't save themselves. If people who have known her for years can look at everything she's done and still mistake what she carries for evil, then perhaps you never belonged among our kind in the first place."
Static brushes across my arms.
The fine hairs along my skin rise while the lamps flicker around us and the remaining glass inside the damaged windows begins humming within its frame. A low vibration passes beneath my feet and spreads through the house as every face turns toward Alec.
White light floods the windows as he walks toward them.
Thunder crashes over the estate with enough force to shake the walls while enormous branches of lightning tear across the heavens. White races through crimson before both collide above us, separating and meeting again as each violent flash paints the gardens in color.
Alec keeps walking.
The men who forced their way into our home begin giving him space, boots shifting across broken timber as the distance between them widens.
He stops several meters away, his face flashing white and crimson beneath the storm gathering above him.
"I put Ryan in hospital for slandering Max."
His voice carries easily beneath the thunder.
"You came here and did worse."
His gaze moves from one warrior to the next, lingering long enough for several of them to shift beneath it.
"You broke into our sanctuary. You threatened my family." His eyes harden. "You threatened her."
Another violent flash illuminates the estate.
Alec takes one more step.
"And somehow, you walked through that door expecting us to accept it."
My breath catches as I stare through the ruined entrance.
I've seen Alec throw lightning from his hands. I've watched electricity bend around him as naturally as breath and tear through enemies before they understood what hit them.
Tonight, the heavens answer him.
Another branch tears through the clouds, and under almost any other circumstances, the sight would be spectacular. Right now, Chinese New Year appears to have developed severe anger-management problems.
Several attackers look upward.
They realize their mistake when the first bolt falls.
It crashes into the lawn behind them with enough force to throw scorched earth through the air. Warriors stagger away from the impact while smoke rolls from the crater and pours through the shattered entrance, carrying the sharp smell of ozone and burning soil.
Electricity crawls over the crater's rim.
Currents spill across the grass, weaving between fallen timber and abandoned weapons as each branching path curves steadily toward Alec.
His eyes lower from the heavens as the lightning reaches his boots and climbs.
Power surges through his legs and across his chest, arching his back beneath the force while another current strikes from the side and disappears into him. The lights throughout the house flicker wildly as his body draws the storm toward itself.
Beside me, Jamey slowly lowers the flowerpot he has been clutching like the last line of mortal defense.
"Ohhh, his angry has officially become angry angry."
Several faces turn toward him.
He hugs the flowerpot closer. "I'm merely providing tactical commentary."
Despite everything happening around us, a laugh almost escapes me.
Alec's outline flickers before us.
For a fraction of a second, electric light scatters the shape of his body and reveals the space behind him. Another pulse tears through his form before drawing him together again, brighter this time, while the attackers begin retreating across the lawn.
He follows them with one measured step.
I catch his arm before he takes another.
"Alec."
His face turns toward me while lightning crawls along his neck and jaw. Fury burns through his eyes, carrying the courtroom, the chains and every accusation these people have dragged through our broken doorway.
He already paid once for defending me.
I refuse to make him regret doing it again.
"Bring them down."
His eyes lock onto mine as every current surrounding him seems to sharpen.
"All of them."
Something fierce moves through his expression, and I hold his gaze long enough for the boundary to carry the same weight as the permission.
"Everyone breathes when you're finished."
His jaw tightens beneath another sweep of electricity.
A single nod answers me.
Then the arm beneath my hand dissolves into light.
The space where Alec stood erupts in white and crimson.
His afterimage burns against my vision while he crosses the lawn faster than my eyes can follow. He reforms among the attackers in a jagged burst, and the power gathered inside him tears free.
Lightning lashes outward.
The first arc catches a warrior across the chest and throws him backward. Another splits before impact, striking two men hard enough to drop them while a third current changes direction in mid-air and tears toward someone trying to reach Alec from behind.
Bodies hit the grass as thunder rolls above us.
A man charges from Alec's left.
Electricity snaps toward his chest, carrying enough force to make my stomach clench. At the last possible second, the bolt veers toward his shoulder and spins him across the lawn, leaving him gasping beside the others.
My grip slowly loosens at my side.
Another attacker raises his hands and releases a burst of power. Alec disappears before it reaches him, reforming several meters away as lightning answers from three directions at once. Two currents strike while the third curves away from a man already lying motionless and buries itself in the grass beside him.
There it is.
Fury still owns every line of Alec's body, yet his lightning knows exactly where the boundary lies.
The last warrior barely manages two steps toward the gates before Alec appears in front of him.
The man freezes.
Lightning crawls across Alec's arms and gathers between his fingers.
"Please," the warrior whispers.
Alec stares at him while the storm above us seems to hang on the same terrible moment.
Then his hand opens.
The gathered electricity slams into the man's chest and throws him backward across the grass. He lands hard, rolls once and releases a ragged groan that tells me everything I need to know.
Every one of them survived.
Alec remains where he is while the remaining currents writhe around his body, resisting the control forcing them inward. His chest rises sharply as each white and crimson strand disappears beneath his skin until the storm above begins retreating with him.
The sudden quiet feels almost unnatural.
Eric and I move onto the lawn while Samantha and Samuel spread among the fallen attackers. Groans follow us through the smoke as men roll onto their sides or struggle to push themselves upright.
Samuel crouches beside the nearest body and checks his pulse. "Alive."
Samantha moves to another and presses her fingers against his neck. "This one too."
Eric checks the man closest to him before releasing the breath he has been holding. "They're all alive."
My gaze finds Alec several meters away with his back to us, shoulders rising and falling beneath the last faint traces of electricity.
For the first time since the storm began, relief manages to reach me.
Eric pulls his phone from his pocket and moves several steps away from the fallen men. The call connects almost immediately, and the voice answering him receives very little ceremony.
"They caught us off guard," he says, frustration tightening his voice. "Whatever happened to Alec at that tribunal today is still sitting with him, and these people came here throwing the same accusations at Max."
A low response reaches him through the phone, too faint for me to catch.
His grip tightens around the device.
"They destroyed Max's property. They threatened us and refused to back down. We have a child here, for heaven's sake." His gaze flicks toward Aleesha before returning to the lawn. "What exactly were we supposed to do, stand there and let them terrorize everyone inside?"
The answer lasts longer this time.
Eric's jaw tightens with every passing second until he finally ends the call and shoves the phone into his pocket. Whatever he heard clearly failed to improve his mood.
He crosses back to me and lowers his voice.
"The Judicars will be here shortly."
A jolt runs through me, sharp as a live wire.
"The Judicars?"
Behind him, Alec's head turns toward us.
My stomach knots.
The Judicars serve as the Divine Tribunal's hand of enforcement, stepping in when the laws governing our use of power may have been violated. Sect loyalties and personal circumstances carry little weight once they become involved. They examine what happened, measure the response against Tribunal law and decide what follows.
After today's courtroom disaster, the thought of another group arriving to decide anyone's fate leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
Then I look at Alec.
He stands several metres away with his fists clenched against his sides while residual sparks jump between his fingers. His chest rises too quickly, dragging one breath after another through lips pressed tight enough to drain their color. His gaze moves across the lawn, touching one fallen attacker before jumping to another, then the shattered entrance and finally the road.
His attention returns to the road almost immediately.
"Alec?"
His eyes repeat the same path as though he is searching for something the rest of us cannot see. The men scattered across the grass are alive, and the fight has ended, yet every muscle in Alec's body remains prepared for another attack.
His breathing grows faster.
I cross the distance and close both hands around his upper arms. "Alec, look at me."
His attention passes straight through me.
A cold twist moves through my stomach as I give his arms a small shake. "Alec, I'm right here."
His eyes finally catch mine, although they struggle to remain there. Another current races across his shoulders and pulls his attention toward the road again.
"They're coming."
"I know."
"They're going to take me again."
The words sound distant, caught somewhere between the lawn beneath his feet and the courtroom he left only hours ago.
"They haven't even arrived yet."
"They'll chain me." His chest rises sharply as his fingers tighten beneath another burst of electricity. "They'll put me back in that room."
My hands tighten around his arms. "Alec, stay with me."
His gaze slips over my shoulder.
"They'll decide before I get to speak."
Lightning snaps from his fingers and strikes the grass beside my foot. I hold my position directly in front of him while his attention keeps searching beyond me.
"Alec, look at me."
His lips move again.
"They'll take me again."
The exact words return with the same distant certainty, and something inside my chest tightens with them.
Eric reaches us and closes his hand around my wrist.
"Max."
Something in his voice draws my attention toward him. His eyes remain fixed on Alec, following the rapid movement of his gaze and the electricity gathering through hands that seem unaware of what they are producing.
"He isn't hearing you anymore."
"I can reach him."
"You've been trying."
I turn back and lift one hand toward Alec's face. "Look at me. I'm right here."
His eyes find mine for a fraction of a second before sliding toward the road again.
"They're coming."
Minutes ago, Alec controlled enough power to turn this lawn into a graveyard. He listened when I gave him a boundary and shaped every strike around it while fury tore through him.
Fear reaches somewhere deeper.
Gold warms beneath my skin.
Eric's fingers tighten around my wrist the moment he feels it.
"Max, don't."
"I can bring him back."
"You cannot issue another Decree to fix this."
My attention snaps toward him. "I can reach him."
"And what happens when the Judicars arrive and find Alec standing inside one of your Decrees?"
The warmth beneath my skin falters.
He moves closer and lowers his voice while Alec continues staring toward the road.
"Look at him. Whatever happened in that courtroom is still happening inside his head."
Alec tears his arm from my grip and starts walking.
Samuel moves immediately.
"Alec."
The name fails to slow him.
Samuel steps directly into his path, forcing Alec to veer around him without seeming to register who blocked his way. The moment Samuel catches his shoulder, electricity erupts between them and snaps his arm backward.
Samantha sucks in a breath.
Samuel keeps his footing while Alec continues toward the road.
"They're coming."
Samuel looks at Eric.
Eric looks at me.
I know exactly what passes between them, and every part of me rejects it before either man moves.
"Don't even think about it."
Samuel's eyebrows rise.
"Max."
"I mean it, Samuel."
Alec takes another step toward the road.
Samuel moves behind him.
My eyes widen. "Samuel, don't you dare."
His hand strikes the side of Alec's neck.
Alec barely manages to turn before his body folds beneath him.
"Samuel!"
He catches Alec beneath the arms and lowers him carefully onto the grass, supporting his head until it rests safely against the lawn. I can only stare while Samuel checks his breathing, presses two fingers against his pulse and adjusts his shoulder with the maddening composure of a man who apparently sees nothing unreasonable about knocking our friend unconscious.
"He'll be fine."
"You just hit him!"
"He was about to walk directly toward the Judicars while producing enough electricity to cook everyone between here and the gate."
"That doesn't mean you knock him unconscious."
Samuel glances toward the road before looking back at me. "Tell them he fainted."
Jamey slowly raises the flowerpot against his chest. "I can corroborate that."
My head turns toward him.
"You watched Samuel hit him."
His expression becomes wonderfully sincere. "I can corroborate selectively."
Samantha presses her lips together, although the movement does very little to hide the laugh threatening to escape.
I point between the three of them. "You are terrible witnesses."
Samuel gives Alec's shoulder one final check. "He's breathing, his pulse is strong, and he's considerably less likely to electrocute a Judicar."
A pressure rolls across the estate before I can tell him exactly what I think of his medical technique.
Every trace of humor disappears from the group.
The remaining attackers fall quiet as the night air grows heavy enough to press against my skin. Even the faint electricity lingering around Alec fades while figures emerge beyond the damaged gates and cross onto the estate together.
Thirteen people approach through the darkness.
Their pace remains perfectly matched as they take in the scorched lawn, fallen bodies and shattered entrance without breaking formation. Several attackers who were groaning moments ago become strangely interested in lying very still.
The Judicars have arrived.
An elderly man walks at their center, his silvered hair moving lightly in the night air while his posture carries enough authority to clear a path without asking for one. His attention travels over the wounded first, then the damage to the house.
His steps slow when he sees Alec.
My stomach drops because, of course, they notice the unconscious divine lightning warrior before anyone has the opportunity to explain why Samuel decided to turn his neck into an emergency off-switch.
The elderly man keeps Alec within his peripheral vision as he approaches me.
"You must be Max."
I drag my attention away from Samuel, who suddenly finds the lawn fascinating.
"Yes."
The man extends his hand. "Gabriel. I lead the Judicars assigned to this matter."
I accept it while the other twelve spread across the property. Several crouch beside the fallen attackers, checking pulses and injuries, while others inspect the scorched earth and shattered entrance with an efficiency that makes the entire lawn feel like evidence.
Gabriel releases my hand.
"We were informed of your visit from these men."
My eyebrows rise. "Visit?"
His gaze remains on me while I gesture toward what remains of my front door.
"Visitors usually knock. These men removed the door."
Behind me, Jamey adds quietly, "Aggressively."
Gabriel's attention shifts toward him.
The flowerpot lowers against Jamey's chest.
"I intended no offence," Gabriel says as his attention returns to me. "I require an accurate account of what happened here."
"Then I'll give you one."
His attention moves toward Eric. "You witnessed the confrontation?"
"Every second of it."
"Who initiated physical force?"
Eric gestures toward the entrance. "They forced their way into the house after threatening everyone inside."
Gabriel studies the damage before his gaze travels across the fallen warriors.
"And this?"
"Alec stopped them."
One of the other Judicars rises from beside an attacker and surveys the electrical burns carved through the grass. "He did considerably more than stop them. Every person I've examined shows evidence of exposure to extraordinary electrical force."
Gabriel raises one hand before the observation can become a conclusion, then turns his attention back to Alec.
"Why is he unconscious?"
There it is, the question Samuel hoped divine law enforcement might somehow forget to ask.
He shifts behind me.
I glance over my shoulder and catch the smallest shake of his head.
Oh, absolutely not happening.
I am not lying to the Judicars because Samuel has developed an inconvenient talent for improvised anaesthesia.
"He became overwhelmed after the fight."
Gabriel simply waits.
The silence lasts long enough to make my answer sound guilty all by itself.
"Samuel knocked him unconscious."
Samuel closes his eyes while Jamey suddenly becomes fascinated by one of the leaves hanging over the edge of his flowerpot.
Gabriel's expression barely changes. "Why?"
Eric answers before Samuel can defend his medical credentials.
"Because Alec stopped responding to us."
Gabriel turns toward him, his attention sharpening. "He remained conscious?"
"Yes."
"Capable of movement?"
"Very."
The faintest movement touches Gabriel's eyebrow.
Eric continues before anyone can enjoy it. "He controlled himself during the confrontation. Max told him everyone had to remain alive, and he obeyed her. Once he realized the Judicars were coming, something changed."
My gaze returns to Alec.
"He thought you were coming to take him back."
Gabriel looks at me. "Back where?"
"The tribunal."
Something changes in the space between us.
"He spent hours believing he could lose fifteen years of his life, possibly more," I continue. "Judgment overturned what happened in that courtroom, but Alec walked away carrying it with him."
Gabriel studies him for several seconds before crossing the lawn.
Samantha shifts aside as he crouches beside Alec and places two fingers against his wrist. His gaze travels over the hand resting against the grass before moving upward toward his face.
For the briefest moment, silver catches inside Gabriel's dark eyes.
His fingers become still.
Another Judicar notices.
"This is dangerous."
Gabriel raises one hand, ending whatever might have followed, although the warning remains lodged firmly inside my head.
My attention moves between them.
Whatever just happened, both men understood it.
Gabriel rises and faces me again. "By your account, these individuals entered your property with hostile intent and initiated the confrontation."
"Yes."
"That will form part of our finding."
Some of the pressure inside my chest eases until his next words bring it straight back.
"The Tribunal also governs the degree of power used in response."
"He left them alive."
"I can see that."
"Then what exactly are we discussing?"
Gabriel turns toward the lawn.
Bodies lie scattered between scorched stretches of grass while smoke continues rising from the crater where Alec's lightning first struck. Judicars move among them checking injuries, and every person they touch continues breathing.
When Gabriel faces me again, something unreadable has entered his expression.
"Whether keeping them alive was enough."
My fingers curl against my palms. "He could have killed them."
"Yes, and he chose not to."
Gabriel's gaze travels toward Alec.
"That choice matters."
A breath slowly leaves me until his eyes return to the place along Alec's neck where Samuel struck him.
"What happened afterward matters as well."
My relief disappears.
Gabriel turns fully toward me.
"By your own admission, these individuals came with ill intent. Their intent does not concern us. The response they received does."
Eric stiffens beside me.
"The Tribunal has strict laws governing the use of power in retaliation." Gabriel's eyes move briefly toward Alec. "Your friend did more than defend himself. He annihilated."
The word lands heavily between us.
My gaze travels across the men still breathing on my lawn.
Annihilated.
Apparently, surviving Alec's attack does very little to soften the Judicar definition.
Then Gabriel's attention returns to me.
"And you," he continues, his voice slowing slightly, "are already the subject of spiritual dispute. I've heard what's being said. There are those who believe what you carry is something cloaked in the appearance of righteousness rather than divine power."
Cold spreads through my chest.
Someone finally said it aloud.
Eric steps forward before I can answer.
"We are not here to entertain rumors."
Steel enters his voice, although Gabriel merely tilts his head and waits.
"No," I say, sharper than I intend. "You're here looking for proof, and I know exactly how you plan to find it."
Eric stiffens beside me. "We were outnumbered."
Gabriel gives him little more than a glance before his attention returns to me, allowing the silence to do his work for him.
Judicars serve the Tribunal's scales of power, and tonight Alec may have tipped them too far.
A colder possibility slips beneath that thought.
Maybe Alec isn't the only person being weighed.
I draw a slow breath and force my voice to remain steady.
"They were relentless. If Alec hadn't..."
Gabriel lifts one hand, ending my sentence before I can finish it.
"We will decide whether the actions taken were justified."
A chill moves along my spine as my gaze travels across the twelve Judicars already spreading through the estate.
Gabriel speaks for all thirteen of them.
They begin securing the fallen with the same unnerving efficiency they brought through the gates. Those capable of groaning are checked first, followed by the unconscious, while every movement seems to belong to a process rehearsed too many times to require discussion.
Then Gabriel does something unexpected.
He extends his hand toward me, palm facing upward, while a faint shimmer gathers above his skin. Color slowly threads through the air, weaving itself into delicate wings until a tiny butterfly emerges from the light. Every shade of the rainbow moves across its wings like living stained glass before it flutters once and comes to rest upon his palm.
My breath catches as understanding reaches me.
Eric moves closer. "That's not necessary."
Gabriel turns toward him, and the first real change I've seen touches his expression as quiet certainty enters his eyes.
"It is."
My stomach tightens because I know exactly what he's asking for.
Judicars can draw memories directly from the mind, stripping away interpretation until an event reveals itself exactly as it happened. Gabriel has listened to our account, inspected the damage and studied Alec. Apparently, our words have reached the end of their usefulness.
He wants my memory.
The butterfly slowly opens its wings upon his palm.
If I accept, Gabriel will see Alec's fury and the lightning that answered him. He will see men falling across my lawn and Samuel striking Alec when his mind stopped registering the people around him. Every moment we have spent explaining will become something Gabriel can witness for himself.
Eric's fingers close around mine.
"Max."
The warning beneath my name reaches me immediately.
Gabriel extends his hand a little farther. "If everything happened as you've described, the memory will show us."
My attention remains on the butterfly while its wings rise and fall with impossible patience. Somewhere beneath my skin, the Living Scripture begins to stir, and warmth travels along my wrist toward the hand Eric is holding.
His grip tightens.
Gabriel's attention drops to my wrist as gold begins moving beneath my skin.
The butterfly lifts from his palm.
Its wings carry it toward me while the Scripture rises higher, responding to something I cannot yet understand.
Alec has spent the entire night believing the Judicars came to take him.
As Gabriel watches my Scripture answer his butterfly, a far worse possibility takes shape inside me.
Perhaps Alec was never their greatest problem.
Perhaps I am.
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Well, that could have gone worse.
When Gabriel held out his hand and that rainbow butterfly appeared, I held my breath while writing it.
Alec came dangerously close to crossing a line, Max had a few choices to make, and the Judicars certainly gave us more questions than answers.
One question before you go:
Would you let Gabriel see your memories?
Let me know in the comments. I'm curious how many of you would actually take his hand.