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She is Hope The last of my words echoed eerily from the back of the ballroom

I licked my lips, nervous now that I had to lay the facts - such as they were - out before everyone

You are doing fine, Portia

Disin frowned at Carol, who stood as frozen as a statue "You clainorant that we can&039;t tell the difference between a member of the Court and an innocent mortal?"

"I don&039;t quite understand how she can appear to be soh I thought someone told me that you had to be a member of the Court to be immortal, and it follows that if she isn&039;t a virtue anyer be a aped atslightly under their combined looks of disbelief "I&039;m not very current with all the intricacies of Court life"

"You are correct, as it happens," a man&039;s voice said behind me We turned en masse to see Terrin at the door, a ru Milo forward "Your graces, please forgiveinto the Court, and felt iton a recent conversation I had with Theo North"

"You are welcoraciously "Bring forward the one as banned and readrace"

"Your grace," Milo said, stahtly as he stopped in front of the mare He shot his wife a look out of the corner of his eye as he bowed to theross injustice done to my wife She is, as you can see, mortal, and not in the least bit like the late virtue Hope as Portia claims"

I nibbled on my lower lip Carol&039;s appearance was my one weak point I was too unfamiliar with the denizens of the Court of Divine Blood to know if it was possible for soe their appearance

"But you are a vessel," Theo said slowly I took his hand, drawing strength fro his shoulders as he looked out at the people gathered "I have the honor of holding the position of vessel Even a nephilim, however, e ato me "You say that the mortal Carol Lee is really the virtue Hope, but you offer no proof for such a supposition How do you answer this discrepancy?"

A s look replaced the one of hatred in Carol&039;s eyes I kneas right about her, I kneithout a shred of doubt that she was Hope, but how did she do it? How did she morph into soain

There has to be soic spell or solalamour, but not members of the Court, and certainly not the ?"

"Er"

There has to be so we&039;ve e her in a way that would fool even the mare

Theo&039;s eyes opened wide at my words

"It is evident that you cannot" Disin waved her hands toward Milo and Carol "You , I order you taken into custody, to await arraignross abuse of power - "

What is it?

He s over to flank ood ten feet Sarah scooted over until she was near Terrin, who stood on the far side of Milo and Carol Only Theo stood firm, apparently not at all concerned by the Hashood

Oh, it is He turned to Milo and asked in a deceptively es as a vessel is to serve as a conduit between the mortal and immortal worlds?"

"Yes," Milo answered, his eyes confident "But the ability to go between mortals and the Court of Divine Blood is not sufficient to change the appearance of one of the coot even wider

What is it? What do you know?

Shhh All in good ti

Theo! Hoould you like a head full of snow?

His laughter echoed in my head "And what of Abaddon?" he asked, and instantly, I knehat it was I had missed

Oh, you&039;re brilliant

Thank you You&039;re not so bad, yourself, you know I&039;d never have thought to look at a mortal for Hope

"Abaddon?" Milo&039;s confidence faded "I suppose that technically it is possible, but not very likely - "

"Is it not, then, within the scope of your powers to arrange for abetween a mortal and a demon lord? Soe the appearance of a asps of surprise fro torrent of conversation

"Silence!" Disin shouted, ju to her feet "There will be silence here!"

Irina s we had just won her over, and sainst the laws of the Court," Milo protested, his face pale A light bead of sweat broke out on his forehead, and I knee had him

"Far be it frolass house, but you haven&039;t been horribly concerned about following the laws of the Court in the past, have you?"

The look he gave me could have stripped ce to do with this" His lips tightened "To imply that just because it&039;s theoretically possible forthe appearance of a mortal, I have done so, is not only ridiculous, it&039;s damned near obscene I am a member of the Court of Divine Blood! It would be impossible for me to conduct any act in such opposition to the tenets of the Court"

Is there any way to tell if he&039;s been in contact with a deht be able to, but I doubt if it would be possible to tell if Milo has been near a de of you, please allow my lady wife to leave She has suffered nities, and I fear for her well-being if she should be made to stand here while this person throws her smoke screens and misdirection" Milo&039;s head bent solicitously over that of his wife, the very picture of husbandly concern

"Oh, for reason&039;s sweet sakes to pull so on the Court" I didn&039;t even try to teust in my voice

"Everyone here knows the true reason you summoned and destroyed the virtue Hope," Milo said, his voice ringing clear and loud as he turned to confront htened around er, I didn&039;t knohich "You are the only one here who has an ulterior motive, not me"

"Hey now," I protested

He continued before I could say anything more "It is an established fact that Theo North has for centuries sought someone ould present the Court with an order of exculpation, thankfully to no avail Until you agreed to help hi him the exculpation the moment you were ree to anyth - "

"Do you deny that you intend to ask for a pardon?" Milo shouted, the entire ballroo his or her breath

Theo&039;s eyes were a light slate grey HisI cleared my throat nervously, and looked at the mare "I do not deny that I intend to speak to the Court about Theo&039;s situation, but that was not ree to take on the duties of a virtue I didn&039;t even knohy Hope showed up when she did! I thought she was a hallucination at first!"

How distant those days a week ago seemed

"You lie," Milo drawled, his face hard "You knew exactly what you were doing when you spoke the spells of su Why else would you so conveniently have the spells upon you when you breached the sacred ground?"

"I told you that faery ring was real," Sarah said in a whisper, nudging the back of my shoulder

I was about to refute Milo&039;s ridiculous accusations when so occurred to me "How did you know that Hope was sulint of luck was turning our way "The only people to whom I explained what happened are my friend Sarah, and Theo, and I&039;m sure neither of them have spoken about it to anyone here"

Both of them shook their heads

"I heard of it fro his arms over his chest as he nodded toward Terrin "We had a discussion regarding your trials, and he told me the far-fetched tale you&039;d spun hi the virtue was ever broached," Terrin said thoughtfully "All Portia said was that she had inadvertently su the iht into theHope if you did not hear the details from the woman herself?" Theo asked, his voice as smooth and rich as milk chocolate

We have him

Possibly

"Iit&039;s only common sense," Milo sputtered "Virtues can only be sum used such a method"

"That&039;s not true!" Sarah startledforward, apparently ready to battle Milo on our behalf