Touching her made me feel raw, but I didn’t take my hand back. Wouldn’t unless she told me to. “You’ll be okay.”

She froze, casting a glance in my direction. “How can you say that?”

I shrugged, suddenly uneasy, my shoulders bunching in a knot. How does one boil down years of experience dealing with misery and terrible situations to let someone understand that you knew what you were talking about, without revealing all of those things? “You’re strong. Even if everything implodes today, you won’t lose your family. Your friends.” Me. “You’re a fighter—a comeback kid.”

Lou didn’t look convinced, but I knew I was right. Lou had a great support system. She was smart. Strong. She would make it through whatever they threw at her. I’d be right behind her, not quitting until she was back on top. “Trust me.”

To my surprise, Lou relaxed a little. On some level, she trusted me enough to know I meant what I said, even without checking our bond.

I just hoped she didn’t notice that I’d said “You’ll be okay” and not “We’ll be okay.” I had no idea how I was going to handle the courtroom experience. It was possible it would be fine. It had been a long time. It was also possible it would be…not fine.

There wasn’t anything I could do, so I focused on Lou. She was still too much in her own head. I needed to get her talking to me. “What should we expect from the tribunal?”

Her leg started to jiggle again. I went to settle it for a second time only to realize my hand was still on her leg, right behind her knee. She’d left it there the first time. For some reason that cracked me right open.

I carefully took my hand back. I’m not sure she noticed.

“I don’t exactly know. I’ve never gone before them.” She grimaced. “I kind of hoped I wouldn’t ever learn first-hand. All I’ve heard is rumor. Scuttlebutt repeated by anxious students and interns alike.” She opened my glovebox, took out two granola bars, and shut it. She handed one to me before she tore into the second one. If Lou was going to be in my truck more, I should stock my snack box with different options. She wouldn’t take the jerky.

“Do you know who makes up the council?”

Lou bit into the granola bar and shook her head. “Nope. It’s actually a rotating group. Twelve members serve for a period of a year. Their names are then drawn at random for each hearing, so we know we’ll get three, but not which three. At the end of their year of service, they won’t be able to serve for two years.”

She took another small bite. “It’s all an attempt to keep favoritism to a minimum and keep things just, but it’s not perfect. The three members will need to meet certain requirements—they have to be fully licensed and bonded in their field with at least three years of experience. And by law there must be at least one member who practices the specific magic in question on the panel. If not, they have to bring in a specialist.”