Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79603 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79603 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Judge Thoughtgood had lime-green hair today and an outfit to match. She looked sternly down her nose at Imani.
“Well, Councilor, I thought you promised me you could prove that big brute of a Kindred was safe to be around?”
“I beg the court’s pardon, your Honor, but what do you mean? My client is perfectly well behaved.” Imani nodded at J’are, who was sitting quietly and wearing the thick leather harness around his arms again. She had hated to put it back on him, but she knew the judge wouldn’t be happy to see him without it. Still, as big and menacing as he looked, he had been as quiet as a lamb. So what could Judge Thoughtgood be talking about?
“I’m referring to the fact that he blew a hole in the wall of the Luxx hotel and caused thousands of credits of property damage!” Judge Thoughtgood exclaimed. “I find it truly shocking that you would dare to show your faces in my courtroom and pretend like nothing happened this morning!”
“What? But your Honor, that is simply not true!” Imani exclaimed. “J’are wasn’t responsible for the bomb that went off—it was planted there by a third party. Possibly the same one that attacked me on the access bridge last night, as we were leaving court and trying to get back to the hotel.”
“Is this true?” Judge Thoughtgood frowned. “You were attacked?”
“I have had two separate attempts on my life since leaving your courtroom yesterday, your Honor,” Imani said, nodding. “And both, I believe, involved morphids.”
She looked pointedly at the huge pink praying mantis sitting beside Lady Bittlebum. The immense insect looked back, it’s vast, compound eyes completely blank.
“That’s ridiculous, your Honor!” Lady Bittlebum cried, before her lawyer could say anything. “Everyone knows that morphids are completely harmless. They can only mindlessly obey the one who owns or controls them—the person they acknowledge as the ‘queen’ of their hive.”
“Well maybe this ‘queen’ of theirs is the one having them attack me,” Imani shot back. “And you’re the only one I see with a morphid sitting beside you, Lady Bittlebum.”
“Oh, how dare you? How dare you?” Lady Bittlebum sputtered, her lemon-yellow hair quivering with rage. “Your Honor, I must protest this rude talk, right here in the courtroom!”
“Careful, Councilor.” Judge Thoughtgood glared at Imani. “You’re on very shaky ground right now. Unless you have better proof that Mistress Bittlebum was trying to kill you than just the fact that she happens to have a morphid servant, I’ll ask you to keep your suppositions to yourself.”
“I apologize, your Honor,” Imani said coolly. “My nerves are just a little on edge right now—considering that someone has tried to kill me twice in the past twenty-four hours.”
“Well, that would tend to unsettle one,” the judge admitted grudgingly. “Still, I also had reports of your client running down the hallway and having to be restrained by guards. From what I heard, many Mistresses were frightened out of their minds by the display.”
“He was trying to catch the morphid who set the bomb in the first place,” Imani protested. “I’m sorry if anyone was frightened but J’are was just trying to protect me.”
“Yes, well, he does seem very attached to you,” Judge Thoughtgood mused. “But I’m still not convinced that he can be allowed out in polite society safely.”
“We were at the public anti-grav pool for several hours today,” Imani offered. “And absolutely nothing illegal or improper happened.”
She felt her cheeks get hot as she spoke. Nothing improper except the fact that she’d allowed her client to go down on her and massage her with his tongue. God, she still couldn’t believe she’d let him to do that! What was wrong with her being so unprofessional?
But here in court was not the time for self recrimination. She pushed her guilt aside and concentrated on keeping her face blank.
“Be that as it may, I would like to see this exemplary behavior for myself,” Judge Thoughtgood said.
“Can your Honor not see now?” Imani gestured at J’are. “Look how calm and composed my client is.”
“Yes, but this is a quiet setting, not a crowded area with a lot of noise and people, Councilor.” The judge gave her a stern look. “I cannot have this bodyslave unleashed upon the public until I see with my own eyes that he won’t become triggered in some way and go berserk in a public setting.”
“But—” Imani began but Lady Bittlebum interrupted.
“If I may make a suggestion, your Honor,” she said. “I’m having an intimate little party at my house tonight—just fifty or sixty of my closest friends. Why not have the Defender and her client come? And your Honor is, of course, invited as well. That way you can observe the brute properly.”
“Well, now that’s an idea.” Judge Thoughtgood looked thoughtful. “I suppose a gathering like that would be an ideal setting to judge if the Nightwalker can be trusted in public.”