Page 241 of Heartless Legacy

Of the nine that step forward, three come through the side door of the adjoining overflow room, and one is on screen, remotely. When their names are officially recorded and verified, the recorder says, “Most Esteemed Councilman Cox, how do you respond to the allegations brought forth against you by First Year Prospect Theona LaReaux and Second Year Prospect Paxton Cox?”

Malcolm says, “I’ve already answered. The allegations are untrue. Now I won’t say that the girl hasn’t been through something this evening. However, she has a tendency to find herself in violent confrontations, to which I’ve been told she’s usually the instigator of. As for my involvement, I have not laid a hand on her, which I’m sure she’ll confirm if you ask her.”

That’s not an outright lie. He hasn’t laid a hand on Thea. He never got the chance, but he’s certainly given the orders for others to do so. Archibald Grant says, “I’ve never touched her either.”

Thea slumps even more, as she says, “Council members Grant and Cox are likely telling the truth. While I’ve been conscious, they’ve never touched me. You’ll have to track down the footage of when I’ve been unconscious to determine if that’s still true. As for league member Bishop, he owns the properties where Lazarro is conducting his auctions and torture sessions, and Councilman Burke and a few of his buddies are guilty of luring me to a club for what he called a loyalty challenge. They dressed me in lingerie and it was clear their intent was for me to strip and fuck them, but their flaccid old dicks never got the workout they hoped, because my mentor and my Finn stopped them.”

Burke, sputters, “Now listen, here you lying little-”

Finn cuts him off with a warning. “Hold your tongue, or I’ll hold it for you, and this time, nobody will be getting anything sewn back on.” To Thea, he says, “Continue, Pet.”

She smiles weakly at him. “They are deplorable men who have repeatedly tried to demean, humiliate and punish me. They wanted me gone, broken, or enslaved to them, but I can’t pin all the blame on them or the people that helped them get away with it. I mean, it’s not their fault they were either too stupid, or on too much of a power trip, to know they were also being manipulated by someone more power hungry than them.”

She’s leaning heavily to one side now. Another prospect steps forward to prop up her other side. I want to tell them to take their hands off of her, but I don’t. They’re making a statement. Showing support and I don’t want to ruin that for her.

Thea continues, “There’s someone who’s been pulling the strings. He put this all in motion from the very beginning. That person can tell you what I’ve endured this last year, and what Pax and I have been doing the past two days. Cox, Grant, Bishop and Burke are just patsies. Wouldn’t you agree, Most Esteemed High Councilman Sherman?”

Sherman speaks in calm clipped sentences when he says, “I agree that your accusations this evening are preposterous. I’ve been a member of the league for over sixty years, and the gentlemen you named have always been members in good standing, unlike your grandfather and his family line.”

I study his face, looking for a tell. Which family lines is he actually referring to? He drolls on. “I’m also inclined to agree that you’ve been a threat to what we’ve built since the beginning. I knew it was a mistake to let you stay in town.”

He waves his hand towards the floor. “Look at the chaos you’re creating while you’re standing there, bleeding out. Your very existence here calls into question the history and integrity of our brotherhood and threatens the foundation of our league.”

My grandfather inclines his head to the side and asks, “If you would be so kind as to explain how, Most Esteemed High Councilman Sherman.”

“How what?” Sherman sputters.

“How does a first year prospect threaten the history, integrity, and foundation of The League?”

Sherman opens and closes his mouth, looking confused by the question. Thea answers, “Because I’m number ten, or number one, if you want to get technical. You can also call me the fourth. I don’t really care what number you assign.”

“Ten, one, four?” Grant scoffs. “Do you hear this incoherent babbling? Young lady, stand down from your allegations and yield the floor, so we can get you some help.” Sneering at the high council area, he says, “Let the record show that I voted against letting women join The League. It was the worst initiative the high council ever came up with. The vetting process has been atrocious. She can’t even count. ”

Thea responds, “I was one of the top ranked prospects until your buddy kidnapped me, and I can count just fine, but I’ll be clearer. I’m the tenth family line waiting for Malcolm Cox Jr. to actuallydenythe allegations.”

Burke says, “You have no authority to demand an answer, because you’re not a descendant of the twelve.”

I fucking love this girl. Somehow, she’s worked this conversation back around in our favor. She says, “I can count, and I can read too, and the last thing I read was the fascinating truth regarding the history of The League of the Daggered Raven. So I sayagain, the question on the floor to Mid-level Council Member Malcolm Cox, Jr. -who seems to have trouble comprehending what I’m asking- is, do you deny that you had me arrested while on a challenge in Palm Springs, and taken to Rockridge Psychiatric Facility, to be forced into complying with your demands? Do you deny that you told me I’d be there for therest of my life and that you planned to impregnate me to produce an heir with or without my consent?”

Even tired, and in pain, she pulls off the sexiest smirk as she says, “I’m Anotèa Hughes. The proxy head of the Adrianakis family in attendance for tonight’s council meeting.”

I watch the reactions of the older high council members. A few stand taller, some take a step back, and others huddle together, whispering. Then I turn to look at my grandfather. He stands proudly, chin raised, as does Finn, senior. Looking back up at the oldest Cox, I expect to see disgust or anger. Instead, he looks unbothered by what’s going on as he stares down at us. Unbothered and unsurprised. They knew. They knew who she was.

Someone finally admits, “We’re unfamiliar with this family line you mention, Prospect LaReaux, and until we can authenticate their lineage, we cannot recognize them as a tertiary descendant of the circle.”

I tell him, “Your ignorance about the Adrianakis family is understandable. Their existence as a legacy family has been buried for nearly a hundred years. Any mention of them was wiped from the archives, because the next several generations born into the family were women. The family line was diluted through marriage and the unclaimed position in The Circle was passed around to whoever The League decided to announce as a replacement bloodline.”

The man next to my grandfather says, “That is how things work here.”

“It is.” I agree. “But sixty-some odd years ago, a male descendant was born, and was tapped to join the league. The family line should have been updated, yet there is no mention of it in the archives.”

Someone asks, “If that’s true, where is this male descendant? Why hasn’t he come forward?”

Thea answers, “Because someone didn’t like it when he started asking questions, which would have probably led to him discovering his true legacy identity and coming forward. He was killed on his way back from a challenge on Canyon Creek Bridge, following a failed attempt to collect a document from a Guardian Vault.”

She’s looking at Sherman again, when she says, “You should’ve gotten rid of the people you hired to carry out that hit. I hear one of them is living in Tuscany and he cried like a pussy when he was being… questioned. One of the items you had them steal sixty years ago is on the way to being recovered. Along with two of the original charge books that the families never turned in.”

Next she addresses Malcolm and says, “By the way, details matter, and if you’re gonna forge something that’s supposed to be hundreds of years old and hand out fake charge books to your buddies, make sure you use the right paper and ink to match what’s in all the archives.”

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