“How old do you think he is?” Tessa asks softly.

I turn to face her. “Jensen or Boe?”

“Jensen.”

I shrug. “Thirty-five? Maybe forty?” I turn to the others. “What do you guys think?”

“I agree,” Niklas says. “I’d guess late thirties.”

“So his binding ceremony was at least eighteen years ago.”

“Yes,” I say, not sure what his age has to do with anything.

She sighs. “So if he still has access to Mending Magic, that means he must have been using it regularly. This whole time.”

All the breath leaves my lungs as the implications slam into me. Jensen won’t be judged by his humanity in this one moment. He’ll be tried based on the fact that the moment was possible at all.

“We don’t know that,” I say, my voice small. “Not for sure.”

Tessa leans over and rests her hand lightly on my elbow. “Maybe there’s something we’re missing. Let’s use the next few days to study the law. There must be some exceptions in extreme cases.”

“I agree,” Jacey says. “We shouldn’t jump to conclusions before we have all the information.”

But certainty spills over me like a pot of spilled ink, blotting out my optimism. In the eyes of the Grand Council, Jensen and I are the same.

And eventually, we’ll both face the same fate.

Chapter Ten

The next morning we sit in the library, poring over every book we can find on the laws governing unbound magic in preparation for the upcoming trial. But no matter how many times I read the text of the law, I can’t find a loophole that will save Jensen.

I dig my fingers through my hair. I wish I’d paid attention to all the conversations between my mother and Gran about council business. Often, over the evening meal, my mother would ask Gran’s advice on some case she was deciding. Gran would always offer a nugget of wisdom—usually in the form of a story from her own days on the town council.

As a child, I found these discussions unbearably dull, but oh, how I could use their combined wisdom now. A stab of longing goes through me. I miss them both so much. And my father, too. I’m an orphan with nowhere to turn for advice.

I wish I could rely on my team for support, but I feel separate from everyone else—like I’m observing them from a distance. As we’ve worked together over the last few days, I’ve started to learn each of their rhythms. How both Tessa and Niklas are worriers, but they have completely opposite ways of coping: Tessa chatters when she’s nervous, but Niklas gets even more quiet than normal. I’ve noticed Bram’s silent leadership, Jacey’s take-no-prisoners approach to life, and the way Talon jokes around to ease the tension.

But I have no idea how they see me.