Read Online Blood Debts (The Temple Chronicles Book 2) by Shayne Silvers - Free Book Online Page B

fight back. And now they dared call the actions of my noble friends and myself a crime. Did the world need men like that with such potential weapons at their disposal? I decided right then that they didn’t.
    Jafar continued. “I can see your dilemma. Do you die a martyr in a vain effort to thwart me out of some ill-conceived notion of honor for your parents’ murder? Get the last word in, so to speak? Or do you play it smart, and bow to your betters. The men who play the longer game. The Academy. The ones who make sure you can tuck your loved ones in at night?” His eyes twinkled as he watched me.
    I looked from face to face, gathering strength, judging the Justices. Their silver faces were supposed to embody human emotion in an effort to prove their empathy for the greater good. But they weren’t good. They were just another breed of political animals. “Do you sleep well at night?” I asked softly into the still silence of the room.
    “Pardon?” Jafar asked.
    “Do you sleep well at night? You know, when you climb into your jammies, drink a glass of warm milk in your impregnable castle that’s guarded by hundreds of other wizards, before you close your eyes because you are tired from a long day of paperwork. Do you think about the people who were murdered here in my city a few months back before sleep takes you? The ones who had no idea what was happening, what they were dying for, the ones who were brutally murdered by creatures out of a nightmare, creatures that even I didn’t know existed. The innocents who lost their lives while you were safe in your ivory tower. The ones who died while you delayed coming to my aid. While you were playing the long game , as you put it, people were dying. You seemed to have no problem coming to St. Louis as soon as you heard about the Armory. So, where were you when my people needed someone to ‘tuck them in safely,’ someone to keep them safe from the monsters of the night?”
    The other Justices fidgeted uncomfortably. Jafar sensed it. “That was your own doing. Without the Armory, your city would have been safe. If your parents had handed it over, as was their responsibility, none need have died. Which is why we are here now. To prevent further bloodshed.”
    “Tell that to the slain. I didn’t know about the Armory. How could the Regulars have known? Regardless, people died , and it had nothing to do with the Armory. The dragons were after a book, not the Armory. And you can sit there with a straight face and tell me that my parents caused the mayhem? No one even knew why they were being attacked. Two of our own, my parents, were murdered and yet you did nothing. Who was there left to prove a point to when they were already dead? After that, you should have been here to help. That is your fucking job . To protect the innocent. Yet you failed. And now you kidnap me, accuse me of being a criminal for saving innocent lives, and dare have the audacity to critique how I saved those lives? Go sip your warm milk and get bent, Jafar. My city has no need for cowardly thugs.”
    Jafar’s face purpled. “You dare speak to-”
    “You’re still talking.” I said smoothly, tapping into the innate confidence of the Master Temple as my father had taught me. “What part of get bent did you not understand? I’ve never seen this Armory. I don’t know a thing about it, despite spending months trying to find the truth of it, but even if I did, I wouldn’t hand it over to the schoolyard bully.”
    The Justices loomed around me. Some looked confused, not knowing whether to attack me, arrest me, or cheer in agreement. Jafar snarled back. “Your parents were criminals to deprive the Academy of these stolen items. We don’t tolerate vigilantes, especially ones who hoard stolen power. These things belong in the care of wiser, older wizards, who were appointed to be a collective think tank to keep all of us safe. Your parents had no right to take this into their own hands through