Page 71 of Kidnapped By the Beast
“I understand—I would feel the same way if T’linga had been treated so badly. I wouldn’t push her if I were you—just give her the option.”
“I’ll speak to her,” Brandt promised. But he wasn’t sure how Alexandra would react.
Either way, though, whether she chose to testify or not, he was going to make that fucking Magistrate and the two officers who had hurt and humiliated her sorry, he swore to himself.
The three of them were going to wish they had never been born by the time he was done with them.
38
BRANDT
It was time—the petition had been signed and the crowd had been gathered. Brandt had helped gather them himself—speaking to the ones who had been wronged, urging them to come. And they had certainly listened—the Hall of Judgment was packed. The air around him reeked of sweat, incense, and the acrid tang of fear. Voices muttered and hissed in the packed chamber, the sound like the restless growl of a beast waiting to be unleashed.
Brandt stood at the center of it, shoulders squared, arms folded tight across his chest. His gaze was locked on the Magistrate who perched on his high dais, smug and self-important in his heavy robes.
This was the male who had sentenced Alexandra to pain and humiliation—today he was going to pay. Brandt continued to study him.
The light from the stained-glass windows in the vast chamber caught on the metal frames of the spectacles perched over all four of his beady little eyes. He looked down on the crowd below as if he were a god, not a worm fattened on power.
Beside Brandt, Alexandra trembled—but she didn’t cower. Her chin was lifted, her eyes sharp, her face pale but defiant. Just a few days before she had stood here helpless as she was sentenced to unspeakable torment. But despite that, she had come back again.
Brandt kept his arm around her, letting her feel his strength—letting her know she was safe. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and pride swelled in his chest so fiercely it hurt.
She came back here, he thought. Back to the place where she was humiliated… tortured…terrified. And she’s standing tall. My brave little Lexi.
Dr. TOo-loo’s voice rose, firmer than usual, echoing off the stone walls. In his hands he held a long parchment, filled with signatures.
“Magistrate GrOin-der, complaints have been lodged against you—many of them. Enough signatures have been gathered to call for your removal.” He showed the parchment and the signatures. “By Terian law and tradition, you must step down.”
The Magistrate’s jowls quivered as he slammed one thick hand against the arm of his seat.
“Nonsense! You think you can strip me of my authority with a scrap of parchment and the whining of women? You and your off-worlder pets have no standing here!”
Brandt’s fists tightened at his sides, his nails digging into his palms.
Off-worlder pets, is it? He’s going to be fucking sorry he said that!
The bloody curtain edged at the corners of his vision as the Rage threatened to take over, but he forced himself to breathe, to wait. Not yet…not yet, he had to at least let this part play out.
“If you refuse to vacate your seat, the people may choose to pull you from it—then there will be no stopping their retribution,” Dr. TOo-loo said sternly. “Let me urge you to come down on your own rather than face their wrath.”
“I’ll hear no more of this!” The Magistrate pounded the arm of his chair again. “I’ll never vacate my seat—I have the rightful authority to sit here and pass judgment and no one can say otherwise.”
But his words seemed to have angered the crowd which had gathered. They muttered loudly but no one stepped forward. Brandt lifted his voice.
“Because of you, my woman was assaulted and publicly humiliated. You wouldn’t listen to her case—you just sentenced her arbitrarily to agony and torture! You’re corrupt! Or else too damn lazy to do your job. Either way, you don’t belong in a position of power over others! You need to step down or we’ll bring you down!”
His words seemed to break the tension and the crowd’s angry murmur swelled and rose. Defying a Magistrate was no small thing, as Dr. TOo-loo had explained. But now that he had spoken, maybe others would as well.
Then a Terian man shouldered his way forward, his face blotched with rage.
“My wife was raped because of you!” he shouted at the Magistrate. “You let your men put her in the stocks and strangers took turns with her! She’ll never be the same—her mind is broken!”
Another stepped up, his voice trembling with grief.
“My daughter was beaten nearly to death over a simple misunderstanding. You let it happen—you wouldn’t listen to her when she tried to explain!”
Another Terian man came forward, and then another and another. It was like a dam had burst. All their stories were similar—women that they loved had been beaten, abused, or assaulted—sometimes all three—because the Magistrate refused to hear their testimony or listen to them speak.
