The dismissal in his voice rocked her back. It took her a moment to recover, but recover she did. “Then you are a fool, Mr. Ibrahim, plain and simple.”

She thought for a moment she had gone too far, but Ibrahim clapped his hands together, laughing. “Excellent, excellent.” He leaned forward. “And I cannot argue with you. My wife says I’m hardheaded.” He templed his fingers again. “You make a convincing argument on your sister’s behalf, Miss Semyaza, but you make it to the wrong person.”

She sighed, sour with disappointment. “To whom should I be making it?”

“You know your sister will go to trial.”

“The Virtues’ Circle.”

“Precisely! So tell me. What do you know of the Circle?”

“I know it is a secret court.”

“A court with a judge, an accusator, and an advocatus diaboli.” He counted the three roles off on his fingers. “I’d like you to be Mariel’s advocatus diaboli.”

Was that his motive for her performance? “Shouldn’t that be the job of a lawyer?”

“No, not here. We are not that kind of court. We speak with a plain heart before God. None of the chicanery of man, hiding behind rules meant to obstruct the facts. We seek only the truth.”

Abraxas’s “spiritual fitness.”

“You would free my sister, if I were to convince the judge of her innocence?”

He pointed heavenward. “If we did not, God himself would strike us down.”

“Even though she… even though we are Fallen?”

“Aren’t all of us God’s creation, even the Fallen? Would not God have taken Lucifer back but for the angel’s pride?”

She was not as certain as Ibrahim on the matter of Lucifer’s wishes or God’s forgiveness, but she’d already pushed her good fortune as far as she dared, so she kept her theological opinions to herself.

He folded his hands across the desk. “Well? Do you accept the role of advocatus?”

“What is required of me?”

“Only what you’ve already demonstrated. A passionate defense of your sister. You can present that as you wish. But truly, the only thing that is necessary is that you speak the truth in your heart. And wear a gloria when you do it.”

She swallowed, queasy at the thought of putting the mechanical bug on her tongue. Her hand moved to touch Abraxas’s pendant, but she stopped herself, forcing her hands together in her lap instead. “And how do I know the judge will listen to me? How will I know you will be honest and fair?”

“Miss Semyaza, we are sworn in service to the archangels and to God himself. The judge would risk eternal damnation should he sentence an innocent woman to death. Surely that is enough to ensure the Circle’s integrity.”