Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series Read Online Free Page B

have Island Coven
residents in these trials. Emily followed Kyle past them and up
onto the stand where the Elders were waiting with Storm.
    “That smells awful,” Chevalier said when she
sat down.
    “It’s bacon,” she told him, and took another
one to eat.
    He winked at her, and then turned back to the
court room, “Bring in Niccolo.”
    The court room’s Door Guard disappeared, and
Emily dug into the crepes, not really caring that almost 50 heku
were watching her eat. She was hungry enough it didn’t matter. She
was just finishing when Niccolo was brought in, and she briefly
wondered if they had waited until she finished. It normally took
only seconds for them to retrieve a prisoner.
    Emily glanced at each of the Elders and saw
they were now sitting straight and looking along the heku in the
audience with stern glances. Niccolo was forced to his knees in
front of them, and Kralen soon appeared and stood behind him.
    Storm shuffled some papers and stood up,
“Niccolo, you are hereby charged with insubordination, neglect, and
unlawful search. How do you plead?”
    Niccolo swallowed hard, “Not guilty?”
    “Are you asking me?” Storm asked him,
irritated. She was disgusted with how he seemed nervous and
fidgety.
    “No, I’m pleading not guilty.”
    “The trial will commence then. First charge
is insubordination. Captain Kralen, what were your orders to
Niccolo in regards to the yacht?” Storm asked.
    Kralen looked up at the Elders, “He was
ordered to anchor the yacht, and then watch the boat and wait for
our return.”
    “Did you do so?” Storm asked the
prisoner.
    “Yes… yes I did… I just… well I was reading
and didn’t know the yacht had floated away.”
    “So you did anchor it?”
    “Yes, Ma’am.”
    Kralen shook his head, “When we arrived, it
was less than 2 feet into the water. That’s not enough to stop a
boat of that size from drifting.”
    Storm nodded and wrote in a file before
speaking, “Neglect charges are based on abandoning a member of the
Council and your superiors on a deserted island. What do you have
to say about that?”
    “I didn’t! I didn’t know the boat had floated
away. I wouldn’t have abandoned them,” Niccolo whispered, too
afraid to speak up.
    “At what point did you go below deck?”
    “It was… I don’t know.”
    “Was it within an hour of the rest of them
heading inland?”
    He nodded, “Maybe a little longer.”
    “After you initially went below deck, did you
come back up to check on things?”
    “No, Ma’am. I didn’t hear anything that would
indicate the boat was being boarded.”
    Storm leaned forward, “However, when they did
board the boat and a mortal walked down the stairs, you didn’t hear
them?”
    “No, Ma’am. They must have been
sneaking.”
    Storm turned to Emily, “Were you attempting
to be quiet?”
    “I’m mortal. We don’t know how to be quiet,”
Emily said, and then blushed when a laugh spread through the
gathered heku.
    Storm shook her head and grinned before
turning back to Niccolo, “What were you doing when Lady Emily
arrived below deck?”
    “Reading, Ma’am.”
    “Where?”
    Niccolo frowned, “I was… well… I kind
of…”
    “Where were you sitting? This isn’t a hard
question.”
    “On… on the bed, Ma’am.”
    “So you were sitting on Lady Emily’s bed,
reading her book?”
    Niccolo simply nodded.
    “Yet you didn’t hear her coming down the
stairs?”
    “No, Ma’am.”
    Storm glared at him, “You were so engrossed
in a romance novel that you wouldn’t have heard if the entire Valle
population had boarded?”
    “I think I would have heard that,” Niccolo
whispered. Kralen had had enough, so he reached down and smacked
him upside the head. Niccolo winced and then looked up at
Storm.
    She shook her head, “At what point did you
find it necessary to search Lady Emily’s possessions?”
    He gasped, “I didn’t!”
    “Where was the book you were reading?”
    “On the night