Growing Into You (First Draft; Unedited)

lxii.

They both walked over to us and the Guard addressed us, “If you don’t know me or don’t remember, I’m Captain Markus. I was the lead Guard in the investigation of Lord Alarie’s murder, but after talking to several of you and Mr. Meren, we can confidently say we know who did it.”

I looked down at my hands and slowed my rapid breathing, waiting for him to continue. He savored the effect that brought us to the edge of our seats.

“We believe it was in fact, Jinan Meren who has murdered Lord Alarie.”

Alexandra’s eyes flickered to mine and she looked away, her face twisted in guilt. Aoife gasped and widened her eyes, “Truly?”

“After careful deliberation Sargeant Yain and the King’s General have come to similiar conclusion. Jinan Meren will be hung for his transgression against a noblewoman, her servants, and Lord Alarie’s murder.”

My heart dropped and my stomach fluttered. “It’s over. . .” I whispered quietly, “we’re done. . .”

He only nodded, “A public execution will be taking place later today. Lady Alaire–sorry, Lady Dupon, is there a specific place you would like this to be carried out?”

She wrapped her arms around her waist and shook her head, “I suppose we should just do it here.”

Captain Markus nodded, “We’ll get everything ready. There’s an old field straight down the main road. Through a small clearing. Yain will be preparing there. I can promise you this will be humane. We can–”

“--Can you do a Celestial Taking?” Alexandra interrupted. She looked around anxiously and I sat up straighter.

Captain Markus looked startled. He rubbed his hands together and thought for a second. “Well. . . we don’t have anyone who can–”

“Hold on, what the hell is that?” Maj raised her hand and everyone looked over at her. I honestly didn’t know what it was either and I was glad somebody else asked.

Alexandra shifted from one foot to the other and looked away from me. “Instead of killing him, a Celestial would move his energy into something else. So he would not be ‘alive’ but he also wouldn’t be ‘dead’, he’d be in a blank state.”

My stomach dropped, “Would he be able to come back?”

She looked up at me, “Only if the Celestial who Took him brought him back but it’s an incredibly difficult process. It would leave him in a state that’s not quite there, not all the way. It would take a year for him to fully recover.”

I bit my tongue, I didn’t want Jinan dead, not really. However, I also didn’t want him roaming around the streets anymore. I didn’t want there to be any way for him to hurt anyone else. Eventually I nodded and everybody else seemed to agree with her, that doing a Celestial Taking would be better. . .

“Lady Dupon, we don’t have anyone that would be able to–”

“Devi can.” Aoife stood up, “Devi is a Celestial, I know she can do this.”

“--We don’t have the money buy something to contain him or anything we could use to hold him in–”

“I’ll pay for it,” Alexandra said, “I’ll find something for him. We’ll do this tonight, at the field you were talking about.”

Captain Markus nodded then shook her hand with a firm grip, “Of course, my lady. We’ll be there at sunset, come when you are ready and we’ll start.” He turned on his heel and walked back down the hall.

“Alexandra that was really nice of you–” Joshua started.

“Stop. I just don’t think the Guards should be able to take lives with no trial,” she took a deep breath, “I hope it was okay with everyone but I can’t just let somebody die. No matter how terrible they are. I just can’t.”