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Mira stared fro with tears, fingers pressed to her lips It killed him that she had to know this fear, this dread This da of helplessness as they waited for the Council to begin delivering its verdict
And then that moment arrived, and Kellan steeled hi to avoid for the past eight years of his life
Lucan soberly addressed the Council, instructing the for either incarceration for life or a sentence of death "As chairman, my vote customarily would be heard last," he said "However, as a condition of this private hearing - because it concerns a former warrior under my command as leader of the Order - the Council has required s I will not vote on sentencing, and the Council’s decision will be final"
Kellan nodded his acknowledgan There was little deliberation Each Council ly split tally across the GNC’s hu both races, cast for his incarceration
Eight others called for death
One vote re would either end in a tie or a firm decision for Kellan’s eventual execution
It all came down to the councilman slumped at the end of the dais, Jere soeance in the old , Kellan suspected now, noting the boneless sag of his shoulders, the glassy redness of his eyes
"Director Benson," Lucan prolance over at hirunted, lifted his head to glare in Kellan’s direction When he spoke, the as blunt, final "Death"
Kellan heard Mira’s sharply inhaled breath He felt her stricken reaction course through hi his pulse like an electric shock as her worry shot into hih their blood bond
"No" Her voice in the seated assembly behind him sounded broken, choked with tears "No! He didn’t kill your nephew, Director Benson He had nothing to do with the fire at Jeremy’s lab or his death You have to believe that! Do the right thing here You have to show him mercy - "
"Mira, don’t" Kellan pivoted to look as she flew out of her seat and started to rush forward in his defense Alongside hiuards went tense He felt their alar to draw their weapons
"No!" Mira cried "Lucan, don’t let this happen, please!"
Kellan saw Lucan’s grim look Understood that the Order’s leader had already done all he could There was nothing more that could be said or done to spare Kellan
"No," Mira sobbed, dropping her face into her pallehold He hated that he was putting her through this, just as he’d dreaded all the years he’d stayed away, hoping to avoid this veryhis head, one too far," he slurred, his head hung low, face drooping as he spoke "Too far now I finally see that, when it’s too late toto attention as Benson rambled, morose and cryptic There was remorse in the old man’s voice, thatthat made Kellan’s blood pound in his tehly swept up in his own private misery "Such a brilliant life, cut short He was a pure soul, that boy, incorruptible A true light-bringer who could’ve changed the world"
Light-bringer
An unusual phrase The very one Acky project
Holy hell
Benson was the one who stole the prototype The realization sank in like talons in Kellan’s gut His blood froze, then irowled, all of his fury locked on the old lazed eyes fleith guilt and terror "You son of a bitch It was you"
On a furious roar, Kellan lunged
He felt the sudden rush ofairborne for the end of the dais He heard Mira’s screa off in his wake
He felt the sudden hail of pain, an unending volley of rounds, ripping into his torso and limbs as he came down on top of Benson and took the corrupt council shriek of anguish "Kellan!"
He knew she felt the echo of his body’s injuries and rage Her terror one to rein hiripped Benson around the throat "Tell oddamned bastard Tell ether, drunken eyes fearful, though more for an unseen threat than for the va the life out of him Kellan’s heart thundered in his ears, so loud and labored, it was all he could hear as his blood pu his body and lie was total; the blood wouldn’t stop
He was dying
The thought cah the chaos erupting all around hi instants
He shouldn’t have been surprised, given everything Mira’s vision had predicted But dah him like poison
"Who killed him? You sold out your own flesh and blood - tell led to keep his hands wrapped around the huan to seep out of hi the Order soone If the human refused to choke out the answers Kellan de the truth froret in the oldabout the murder of his nephew and soon the deaths of countless others So uise of peace
Kellan’s grip started to slacken He couldn’t hold on Not even when Benson scrabbled out of his reach and ept away by GNC and JUSTIS guards He rolled onto his back and found hi up at the hazy shadows of Lucan and the rest of the Order He tried to speak but only coughed, sputtering blood as pain lanced through every inch of his body
More than one warrior breathed a low curse as they looked down on hirowled "Godda Now"
"Kellan" Mira’s voice was shattered with tears and anguish She pushed through the warriors and dropped to her knees beside hiainst her breast as a sob racked her "Oh, Kellan No!"
Mira folded herself over hirief that destroyed him, even more than the bullets or his many past failures He wanted to tell her he was sorry He wanted to tell her that he loved her That he always had, and alould, no matter aited for him on the other side now
But she knew that
She looked into his face and nodded through her tears, her fingers light on his brow, tre as she wiped the blood from his mouth and bent to kiss him
Kellan wanted to tell her the words anyway, but there was so all of the Order needed to hear