Chapter 12

• I stared into a sea of cold, pale faces, their expressions blank but their whispers vicious. The way their eyes sliced through me mocking, dissecting made my skin crawl. Whatever I’d done to deserve such contempt was a mystery, but it didn’t matter. I stood alone in the center of the arena, fully exposed under the scrutiny of the Night Council. This place wasn’t built for justice. It was designed to strip a soul bare.
• The man in red folded his hands, and like a spell had been cast, the noise around us fell into dead silence. A smile, brittle and devoid of warmth, curled on his lips as he gestured for me to step forward. My limbs moved before I could argue with them fear made obedience instinctual. As I approached, his grin widened, revealing fangs that glinted like knives under moonlight.
• The man seated beside him stood slowly and surveyed the court with a calculated gaze. “By the authority of the Head of the Night Council, Romeo Pirozzi,” he declared, “we now open the session. The mortal in the arena shall be tested… and judged.”