Reg did not miss a beat. “A matter we hope to rectify here this evening.”

He had the charm on full volume.

“As you can imagine,” he went on, “humans take a painfully long time to do anything. It’s almost as if they don’t realize their time is limited.”

A twitter of appreciation went around the room, and I’m almost certain I saw Reg wink.

There was no sign of the Reg who had warmed up to humans and even had a mortal boyfriend. He just seemed his old self. He really was a talented actor.

Elder Adante stepped to the edge of the platform, looking down at us. “Well then, since your limited human hours are so precious, I suggest you not waste time with any further comedy.”

I don’t know if it was his condescending tone or the way he stood deliberately towering over us . . . or if it was simply that seeing his face again took me back to that night outside Sal’s fence, but something in me snapped.

“You’re right that this is no comedy,” I seethed. “It’s a tragedy. And the time that’s been wasted is ours. All the hours we spent drafting letters to the clans, seeking a sponsor for an appeal, only to discover we’d been . . . blackballed. It should not have taken an Ancient for us to earn our place before this council.”

“Charlie.”

I heard Reg’s words, felt his hand on my shoulder, but both seemed very far away. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted two Elder women whispering to each other and giggling. At me. At us. We were a joke to them. I knew now, with certainty, what I’d felt the moment we’d stepped into the chamber—that this whole thing was a farce. Lina could get us in the door, but she couldn’t give us our immortality. She had said as much, hadn’t she? I should have listened.

Well, if I wasn’t going to get my life back, at least I would say my piece.

“What a sham,” I whispered. Then, raising my voice: “It’s so clear to me that this isn’t about what we did to that boy.”

The words came out in a shuddered breath. It felt so good to release them, to speak that truth, but it also coated me with dread, because now that they were out, I couldn’t take them back. I could only charge forward.

“You’ve all done as much or worse.” I shot my accusation around the room, and where Reg had earned laughter, I got only bared fangs. “This is about the treaty.”

Adante feigned ignorance. “Which treaty is that? There are so many.”

“The Treaty of Annis. You are just waiting for young vampires to make mistakes so you can cast them out, whether they . . . whether we deserve it or not!”