Chapter 30: Before Judgment

Chapter 30: Before Judgment

Silas’s cuffs had rubbed a raw patch beneath his left thumb by the time they brought him into the hearing chamber. He tried loosening his grip on the chain. It helped until he had to sit down.

The room looked like a lecture hall that had been rearranged for an unpleasant occasion. Five students occupied a raised bench to the left. The clerk had papers spread across a long table, and two council officers stood beside the entrance.

Lydia sat with Gareth near the front. She wore a clean uniform and kept a handkerchief folded between her hands. Gareth leaned close to say something as Silas passed them.

Then Silas saw Celia.

His sister sat three rows behind Lydia, straight-backed, with her hands resting in her lap. Her face was still. He recognized the tightness beside her mouth from the body’s memories, but when he looked at her, she gave him nothing else.

He had an absurd urge to say her name.

And then what? Ask her to come sit beside you?

He faced the clerk’s table instead.

The vice principal entered through a side door. Her white hair was tied back, and her red eyes moved over the chamber before she sat. She looked younger than several instructors Silas had met. He remembered arguments among players about whether she was a century old or considerably older, none of which helped him now.

She placed the case file in front of her.

"This hearing concerns the allegation against Silas Rooke," she said. "The student panel will submit its findings to me. I will determine the ruling. Anyone interrupting a witness will leave."

The council presenter stood and read the accusation of attempted sexual assault. He requested permanent expulsion if it was upheld.

Silas listened with his hands beneath the table. His name appeared in almost every sentence. After a while, he began watching the presenter’s finger move down the page.

Lydia gave her account first.

She described the reception and her fear of being followed. She had gone to a relative for help. Inside the room, she said, Silas had grabbed her before she could reach the bathroom. She had pulled away, and he had blocked her attempt to leave.

"I thought if I screamed, someone would hear." Lydia pressed the handkerchief against her mouth. "I didn’t know Gareth was nearby."

The presenter waited until she could continue.

Silas watched her hands. She twisted the folded cloth once, then smoothed it again.

Keep talking. Say what you came here to say.

Gareth described finding his sister on the floor. When asked about the blow to Silas’s face, he lowered his head.

"I lost my temper. Seeing her like that—I’m sorry. I should have waited for the council."

The vice principal made a note. "That conduct will be addressed separately. Continue with what you witnessed."

Gareth’s companion was called next. His name was Renn Harker. He had followed Gareth from the reception, he said, because Gareth wanted to make sure his sister had reached her residence.

"I heard Rooke through the door," Renn told the panel. "He said she wouldn’t be leaving until he was finished."

Silas stopped rubbing the sore patch beneath his cuff.

The presenter looked up. "Those were his words?"

"Yes."

Renn’s voice was firmer this time. Silas studied him properly: the pale brows, the neat collar, the way he looked toward Gareth after answering.

He had never spoken to this man before last night.

"Did you see the alleged assault?" the vice principal asked.

"No, Vice Principal. We entered after she screamed."

The clerk recorded the answer. Silas waited until the pen stopped moving before looking away.

The testimony that followed was harder to listen to for a different reason.

Elin Marsh stood beside the clerk’s table and described the money he had taken from her. She knew the amounts. The original’s memories supplied the stairwell and the smug pleasure of making her count it out twice.

Silas stared at the table.

"Has he continued demanding payment?" the presenter asked.

"No. He told me to stop bringing it." Elin glanced toward Silas, then quickly back. "He hasn’t returned what he took."

"No," Silas said quietly. "I haven’t."

The presenter turned toward him, but the vice principal raised a hand.

"Miss Marsh, did you witness any part of last night’s incident?"

"No."

"Thank you. You may sit."

A boy described having his practice weights knocked out of his hands until he injured his fingers. After him, the presenter read earlier disciplinary reports: threats, interference with another student’s work, repeated misuse of his family name.

Some details Silas remembered. Others he wished he hadn’t heard in a room full of people.

He could deny Lydia’s accusation. Listening to Elin, he had found nothing to say at all.

Talia was the last witness called.

She gave her name and position without looking toward either Rooke. The presenter asked about the disciplinary incidents she had handled, and she confirmed them.

Then he asked whether she considered Silas’s behavior consistent with the accusation.

"I didn’t witness the incident," Talia said.

"I’m asking about your experience of him."

"My recent experience is that he has complied with inspections, accepted medical supervision, and done a considerable amount of paid equipment work."

Gareth shifted in his seat.

"Work doesn’t make someone harmless," the presenter said.

"I haven’t said he’s harmless." Talia kept her attention on him. "You asked about my experience. I’m giving you the rest of it."

Silas looked up.

"He has sought advice and followed it," she continued. "I’ve seen the equipment and the working arrangements. The commissions are registered. If you’re presenting his conduct to this panel, that belongs in the account too."

"Would you trust him alone with another student?" the presenter asked.

Talia took a moment to answer.

"I have been alone in his room on several occasions. He has never threatened or touched me."

Silas swallowed. His lip pulled unpleasantly, and he wished he had the cup of water they’d given him downstairs.

He hadn’t expected her to say that much.

The vice principal dismissed Talia after asking when she had last visited. Talia returned to her seat near the aisle. She didn’t try to catch Silas’s eye.

The presenter closed with Lydia’s injuries, the two men’s accounts, and Silas’s record. The physician’s report confirmed fresh bruising; it did not identify who had caused it. By the time the presenter finished speaking, that distinction seemed to have made very little impression on the student bench.

The panel withdrew to confer.

Silas flexed his fingers beneath the table. He had been given opportunities to question the witnesses and had declined. Now he could feel Gareth watching him from across the aisle.

He let his gaze drop first.

The wait was long enough for the clerk to offer him water. Silas thanked him and drank carefully. Behind him, someone whispered that the hearing should already be over.

He wanted to turn around and ask what appointment they were missing. Perhaps they needed his room cleared before dinner.

Instead, he put the cup down without spilling it.

When the panel returned, its chairwoman remained standing.

"Four to one in favor of upholding the allegation," she said. "The majority supports permanent expulsion."

Lydia closed her eyes. Gareth put a hand on her shoulder.

Silas looked toward Celia. She hadn’t moved from her seat, but one hand was now closed around the other. Her gaze remained fixed on him.

The vice principal read the recommendation, then laid it on the desk.

"Silas Rooke. Before I rule, you have one final opportunity to address the allegation and present anything you wish this court to consider. Do you admit it?"

"No."

His answer came clearly enough that Gareth’s hand stopped moving on Lydia’s shoulder.

Silas straightened in his chair.

"Prefect Veyne delivered a box of my belongings to the clerk. I’d like it brought here."

The vice principal glanced toward the clerk. "Has it been cleared?"

"Screened and entered on the property record, Vice Principal."

"Bring it forward."

Talia was watching now. She had collected the closed box from beneath his bed at his request, with permission from the officer responsible for his room. Whatever she’d expected him to need from it, she looked as puzzled as the clerk carrying it toward him.

Silas opened the lid. Working around the short chain between his wrists, he lifted out a small brass-framed crystal and set it on the table.

The maker’s certification was engraved around its base.

"An image-and-sound recorder," the vice principal said.

"Yes." Silas turned it toward her. "It was running before Lydia came into my room."

Across the aisle, Gareth stood halfway out of his seat.

"Sit down," the vice principal said, without looking at him.

Silas rested his finger beside the playback switch.

"I’d like the court to hear her again."