Page 56 of Flock This

I managed to shift enough to see out of the box, through the narrow slits, but the moment I did, I wished I hadn’t.

The council meeting was the last place I wanted to be, yet here I was.

Leave it to me to be in the exact wrong place at the wrong time—my luck was always bad, but this was a new level of misfortune.

Fuck my life.

Chapter Fifteen

I tried to stay as still as possible, the pressure of so many powerful beings around me uncomfortable.

I’d been to one council meeting before, the first one when they’d tried to officially add me to a clan, but that had been different. I hadn’t understood the world back then, so the people had been just people. I’d had no idea just how dangerous the world—or these people—really were.

Now that I knew, however, I couldn’t avoid thinking about how I was a little bird hiding in a box in front of powerful beings, none of whom would probably mind if I wasn’t around anymore—not mentioning that a few would probably like me gone.

Ruben removed the book and set it out on the table. Thankfully, I was still low enough to remain unseen in the box, hiding in the cloth.

“You’re telling me you don’t know Grey’s employee number off hand?” came a voice I didn’t recognize. Then again, the only one I personally knew on the council was Galen, so it wasn’t surprising I wouldn’t recognize the speaker.

The pages of the book rustled as Ruben turned through them. “This branch of the Justice Department alone has over one hundred current employees. Do you really think I would waste my limited time memorizing the codes and information of each person employed here? Especially that of a lowly clanless courier?”

Ouch. I nearly rustled my feathers in offense at that but managed to keep myself still. Instead, I plotted my own petty revenge. Someone was getting salt poured into all the sugar containers in the building.

Hey, maybe with that I could get my name in the disciplinary section a few extra times.

Worth it.

“So are we going to officially vote?” the same voice asked again.

“Why are you rushing things?” Galen asked. I couldn’t see him, but his voice made my heart race.

“She murdered one of ours. No, not just one of ours, but the highest. I’m sure your pack wouldn’t just sit around if she had killed you.”

Galen made a soft sound, the sort that said he didn’t think that would happen. I chose to think it was because he knew I wouldn’t hurt him rather than he thought I couldn’t.

“If one little clanless girl was able to kill me, I would think I got what I deserved.”

It seemed Galen could look forward to the same sugar-salt deal as Ruben, then.

I’d show them not to think too lowly about me!

However, that petty revenge was for another day. For today, I needed to keep my beak shut and my wings still.

“We’ve presented our request, and as it stands, there’s no one to speak for her, right?” Judging from his statements, I had to guess he was the temporary council seat for the Graves. “Doesn’t that make this a simple process of setting a date and putting in the warrant?”

“Just because she doesn’t have a clan doesn’t mean she’s guilty,” Galen snapped, his voice angrier than I was used to. Sure, I heard him annoyed often—usually at me—but anger was different. I wasn’t sure if he purposely hid this part of him or if he just didn’t get this mad at me. “Rushing to a half-assed trial won’t serve justice for anyone.”

“She was found over his dead body with the murder weapon in her hand. Then, instead of defending herself, she ran away. What in that implies any semblance of innocence?”

Sure, but anything sounded bad when a person said it like that…

“She deserves a chance to defend herself like anyone else,” Galen snapped.

“She has to follow the rules here like anyone else!”

“Last I checked,” Ruben said, his steady voice causing everyone else to fall silent, “I am in charge here—not either of you. I run this council, and I set the rules here. Do not mistake your place.”

That was one hell of a threat barely disguised as conversation.

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