Two days later, Mina stared up at the stone building before her, dread filling her stomach with acid.

Labeled to the outside world as the Ménagerie Institut du Paris, most people thought it was an animal rights organization. To others it just was one of many strangely named Parisian brotherhoods with obscure and cloak and dagger purposes with roots that ran back to the Middle Ages.

To Mina, it was the belly of the beast.

How had they gotten here? Rene must have done some fancy talking to even get them to consider her case. She’d asked him time and time again how he’d managed it but all he would tell her was that he’d had to rely on the help of an old friend.

Not all that comforting, but better than being shot at.

Her brain flashed back to that moment and a shaft of pain spread across her chest. Not from the pain of the arrow, but with the reminder of the devastated expression on Dan’s face when he’d realized she’d been hit.

She couldn’t think about Dan right now. He and Etienne had been called and knew she was all right. She had to focus on getting through this trial in one piece and protecting her three conspirators from further attacks. Only then would she allow herself to think about her own heartache.

"Excuse me, Mina. I have to speak to Gerald." Rene moved from her side to walk toward the dragon lord Council member, leaving her to stand in the middle of the atrium of the Council building alone.

One of the guards at the security kiosk, a jaguar shifter, eyed her with suspicion even though they’d been allowed past the checkpoint. Others, milling in the atrium waiting for entrance to the audience hall, watched her from afar. Word had spread quickly that Valkyrie Mina Silva would be tried for breaking shifter law. And she wouldn’t be surprised one bit if the bastard who had used her for target practice was in this very building.

The thought made her blood boil and her chest ache again all at once.

A commotion rose at the security kiosk and Mina turned to see a half dozen Valkyries striding in. Even more startling was that the most respected elder of her kind, Hilde Hrist, led the pack. Her name meant "battle shaker" and it was true that Hilde was known to overthrow the status quo, but Mina hadn’t expected her to come. She rarely attended Council meetings because she had little patience for bullshit, and the powers that be here were practically steaming with it.

A definite twist, and Mina couldn’t help but wonder if her presence would help or hurt.

"Of course we are carrying our weapons into the Council Chambers," Hilde said loudly. "Speak with your supervisor, little pussy. We are the only shifters that are allowed to do so. Now move aside and let us pass."

For an instant she felt sympathy for the poor jaguar shifter manning the security desk. The grim resolve on Hilde's harsh face was enough to drain the courage from any shifter. The statuesque blond didn’t wait for a response. Instead, she waved her Valkyrie sisters through the metal detectors one by one, each with their bows and quivers strapped to their backs, to the screaming protest of that machine. People in the atrium murmured as Hilde and the group formed a protective phalanx around Mina.

"Hilde," said Mina bowing her head in respect.

"Mina," replied Hilde, nodding in kind.

"I did not expect you to come."

"Nor," said Hilde coolly, "did I expect one of our kind to be tried for a crime such as this."

"I followed my conscience and I did what I felt was right," Mina said with no apology in her voice. In spite of it all, she would do it again. There was no point in lying to her brethren. They would see the truth of her heart in her aura regardless.

Hilde nodded, a grudging respect lighting her sea-foam eyes. "Yes, well, they like to use us for that when it’s convenient and it lines up with their own politics. When it doesn’t?” She shrugged one beefy shoulder, her lips twisting into a grim smile. “In any case, you have my support, if it counts for anything."

It did. But before Mina could thank her, the Council doors were thrown open. The seneschal, a stately werewolf shifter, stood in the middle of the doorway.

"Here ye, those with business before the European Council of Therianthropists, approach and enter first to take your places. Others who wish to observe may gain admittance for whatever seats are available."

Rene walked confidently toward the group of Valkyries.

"Hilde," he said with a wide smile. "We are honored by your presence."

"Still the glib charmer, Beauchamp," she said, a blush staining her cheeks.

"One must keep in practice."

Hilde scoffed. "Let's go take our seats."

Rene took Mina's arm.

"What are they doing here?" hissed Mina, as quietly as she could manage.

Rene gave a maddeningly casual shrug.

"We've had occasion to talk. But mostly about you."

Mostly? Again there was no time to parse this as the crowd parted before them and Mina reached the seneschal.

"Mina Silva," she announced and then looked over her shoulder, "and party."

He stepped aside to allow them admittance.

Mina walked down the aisle of the Council hall. It was a wide semi-circle auditorium with a platform set dead center. Bright lights shone on the dais. A long table and eleven chairs sat in the middle of the stage. Two wood tables sat in the space between the rows of seats and the platform on either side of the aisle.

An usher at the bottom of the aisle indicated that Mina should take a seat at the table on the right. At the left table sat a shifter dressed in a pinstripe suit. Aggression poured off him in an orange cloud as he spotted Mina and the entourage behind her.

"Monsieur Babbage," murmured Rene with a nod of his head as he arrived when he reached the table.

"Mr. Beauchamp," said the man, his voice pure ice.

"Who is that?" asked Mina.

"The prosecutor."

A prosecutor was better than an executioner, she guessed, but only slightly. And he was a jackal shifter, no less. She’d been around long enough to know that the combination meant he’d stop at nothing to win, whether he was on the right side or the wrong side.

The Valkyries took their seats behind her table and Mina resisted the urge to look behind her to see who else joined them. Others with Council business found their seats, and then the rest of the audience was let in. Finally the great oak doors were shut, with security posted in front of them.

Preventing more people from coming or her from going?

The seneschal walked out on the stage and cleared his throat.

"Here ye. All who have business or who witness these proceedings stand for this Council."

Eleven shifters, dressed in judge's robes entered, six from one side and five from the other, and took their seats at the table on the dais. There were two from each of the major shifter groups, avian, feline, canine, and ursine, though the werewolves, because of their large numbers, had their own representatives.

One dragon, Gerald Osling, sat in the center chair. He picked up the gavel at his elbow and slammed it onto the table before him.

"We are here assembled," he said, "to discuss issues on the agenda, hereby previously published on our interweb and available for inspection by those with such clearance to do so. On the Council are representatives of each group. Their names are known and published in the docket for today. However, we are only eleven because the leader of this Council recused himself. The court reporter will enter all names serving the Council today into the transcript. Ms. Secretary," he said nodding his head to the cat shifter on his right, "what is the first item on the docket?"

"Valkyrie Mina Silva, item one three nine seven."

"Ms. Silva, please stand. Ms. Secretary, read the charges."

Mina stood while the cat shifter lifted the sheet of paper in her hand.

"The Council of Shifters do charge Valkyrie Mina Silva with knowingly and willfully breaking the law against creating a new shifter without prior consent. Furthermore, since Ms. Silva was under contract to the Council at the time of this incident, she is charged with violating a proprietary interest of her employers.”

"Oh, come on," she whispered to Rene who stood next to her. “Prior consent? Prior consent has never been given before. It wasn’t even an option.”

"The charges are read," said Gerald, sending her a quelling glare. "Are there any other motions on this case?"

The prosecutor cleared his throat. "I would like to add the additional charge of assault upon Council-appointed representatives."

"That's not fair," Mina muttered, not even trying to whisper now. "They were sent to kill us. I suppose I should’ve just sat back and let it happen?"

"Any objections to the additional charge," said Gerald, ignoring her and looking at the other Council members.

"I object," said Hilde rising from her chair. "And I submit that all these charges be dismissed."

"Sit down, Commander Hrist," said Gerald. "We will hear from you shortly. Since there is no objection from the Council members, the new charge will be added. Ms. Silva, how do you answer the charges?"

Rene spoke up before Mina could open her mouth. "She does not answer any of the charges, Vice-Council Leader. The Valkyries do not recognize this Council's authority to judge them."

Murmurs ran through the crowd. This was heresy. Every shifter species signed the compact to recognize the Council. It was the only way to stop the devastating shifter wars eighty years ago.

"Ms. Secretary," said Gerald, nonplussed by Rene's announcement. "I believe we should enter a de facto plea of not guilty. Proceed, Mr. Prosecutor."

"I call to testify, Mina Silva."

"Ms. Silva, stand where you are. Mr. Babbage will question you there."

Babbage stared at Mina for a long moment before baring his yellowing teeth.

"Ms. Silva, did you willingly create a Valkyrie out of one human named Taya Briarcroft?"

"Yes, I did."

Murmurs ran through the spectators and Gerald banged his gavel.

"Quiet, or I'll clear the auditorium."

"Prior to that, were you tasked by the Council to return Etienne Beauchamp back to France?"

“I was.”

“And did you also willfully disregard that directive?”

"No, I did not."

"Pardon?” The prosecutor looked around at the audience as if puzzled and then chuckled. “Well, I was told you did not escort him back to France.”

"Right. I didn’t."

"And why is that?"

"Have you ever tried to make a dragon do something he doesn’t want to do, Mr. Babbage?"

Laughter rang through the galley and Babbage's face flushed.

"What I said I would do,” Mina continued, “is talk with him and try to persuade him to give up a relationship with Taya Briarcroft and return to France with me. I had thought to trade on my longstanding friendship with Mr. Beauchamp to help him to see reason. I could not convince him."

"Why did you make Taya Briarcroft into a Valkyrie?"

"Because it was the right thing to do."

"Patently false. There are prohibitions against the creation of new shifters which specifically tell us law-abiding shifters that it is, in fact, the wrong thing to do.”

"And still, I stand by my decision."

Babbage looked toward Gerald and the Council and threw his hands up. “Esteemed Council members, this is a guilty plea clear and through. She’s admitted she committed the crime with the foreknowledge that it was a crime. I move to strike the de facto plea and enter a guilty plea on the original charge based on the defendant’s confession.”

Gerald held up a hand and turned his wizened face toward Mina, his voice low and grave. "Why did you do it, young lady? Get to the meat of it before I lose patience."

Mina wet her lips, and nodded. Of all the Council members, she hated him the least, and if he was willing to listen, maybe all wasn’t lost. If they found her guilty, surely charges against Dan would follow, and that was unacceptable.

"Because it is my belief that Taya was worthy of becoming a Valkyrie and if I failed to turn her, Etienne Beauchamp would die."

Whispers ran through the crowd, but she kept her gaze locked on Gerald.

"That's a stunning statement, Ms. Silva. What led you to believe that?"

"I determined very quickly that Ms. Briarcroft was not a casual sexual liaison of Mr. Beauchamp, but that she was and is his bonded mate. Should she have died, Mr. Beauchamp would not have recovered from the loss and would have died himself." Mina held her head higher and spoke louder. "We'd have one less dragon in the world, not to mention their potential offspring. I believed my actions were in the best interest of the species as well as of my friends."

"That Taya was human would make her an inappropriate mate for Mr. Beauchamp. Preservation of the dragon species is a top priority for the Council."

"And now, thanks to me, happily that problem is solved."

“Illegally.” Gerald’s white brows caved into a dark frown. "And you essentially traded one problem for another, potentially, more serious problem. You know why we stopped turning humans, Mina. Loved ones notice changes. Questions are asked. Shifters take liberties with consent. It’s a slippery slope. What made you so sure that Ms. Briarcroft was worthy of becoming a Valkyrie that you would risk such consequences?"

"She attempted a selfless act. I found her trying to leave Mr. Beauchamp and risk her own safety to protect him from the judgment of the Council."

"Attempted,” Babbage scoffed. “Meaning she didn't actually do it."

"Because I intervened," Mina snapped, vowing then and there that, if she were to be sentenced to death, she would leap over the table and take him with her.

"But she did not complete the act."

"No.”

"No further questions. The prosecution rests. And since Ms. Silva has admitted to all the charges, I submit a motion for summary judgment."

"Motion denied. We will hear Ms. Silva's defense."

"I call to testify the Valkyrie commander Hilde Hrist,” said Rene, standing to break his silence.

Hilde rose again and the other Valkyries flanked her.

"Commander Hrist, I believe you have a statement to make."

"I do. For thousands of years, shifters of all kinds have relied on the Valkyries to navigate the muddy waters between right and wrong. We have been your moral compass and your conscience.” Her voice shook with conviction, and it warmed Mina from the inside out. “First on the battlefield, and then, when this Council was formed, in the political arena. You employ Valkyries to make the tough moral calls. Now, today, Mina Silva is being tried for making one of those tough calls. It’s unjust.”

She leaned forward and pounded a fist into her open hand.

“And we cannot allow it. If we are to function in the manner in which you have come to rely on, then we must have a freer hand. If you persist in this prosecution, then we have no choice but to withdraw our services not just from this Council, but from shifters everywhere. No liaising, no mitigation, no ‘lie detecting’. And no one to step in and stop the slaughter when one species lashes out against another. The shifter wars of eighty years ago will look like a post-football game street riot in comparison.” She gestured to the women behind her and then nodded curtly. “We are of one mind in this.”

She sat, and the other Valkyries followed.

Babbage's aggression amped up and rolled off him in thick waves as the Council members looked at one another nervously.

"A cross-examination, please?" he muttered through gritted teeth.

"Objection. As a statement, it merits no cross," said Rene.

"Council members," appealed Babbage.

"As the defense said, a statement is exactly that, Mr. Prosecutor." Gerald turned his attention to Rene. "Do you have anything else, Mr. Beauchamp?"

"Just my summation." Rene took a deep breath. "Council members, as I stated at the beginning of this...procedure, the Valkyries as a group do not recognize the authority of the Council to judge one of their own. And I agree with them. I move to have all charges dismissed."

One by one, reluctantly, the Council members nodded their heads and began muttering amongst themselves. There were a few feeble protests, but she could sense the way the wind was blowing, and her heart began to pound.

A few moments later, Gerald banged his gavel and nodded. "Then that is decided. The charges against Mina Silva are withdrawn and the contract on her life is terminated. But in this, she must agree to stand by her unilateral decision. If there are any negative repercussions from the turning of Ms. Briarcroft, this Council reserves the right to revisit these charges at a later date. She is also hereby suspended from Council work for the next twenty years. We do not have to employ you Ms. Silva. You are further advised that this Council will not tolerate any interference from you during the term of your suspension. Cross us again and we will not be this lenient."

Gerald looked toward Hilde Hrist. "Does this satisfy matters for you?"

"It does," Hilde said grimly.

Mina stood, shell-shocked at this turn of events. Around her, the audience hall exploded into excited conversation. She turned to Rene, emotion clogging her throat.

"I can't thank you enough," she started, "for coming to get me, for standing by me--"

"I wouldn’t have it any other way. Now go on, I'll catch up with you later. I have other business with the Council."

She nodded as Hilde Hrist and her fierce complement strode toward them.

"Commander," said Rene with a cheery smile, "wine tonight?"

"I'll check my appointment book," she said tonelessly.

"Call me then," he said with a wink.

The commander scoffed. "Incorrigible."

Rene just smiled back at her.

"Come along, lieutenant. We'll get you out of here."

The Valkyries formed a protective wall around Mina and the commander walked at her side.

"Do not worry," said Hilde after they pushed through the crowd and got out the main door. "I have other work for you."

"You do?" Mina couldn't imagine what it was.

"Yes. I’ll call you."

With that, the Valkyrie commander and Mina's sisters melted into the crowds walking the streets of Paris leaving Mina alone.

She stood trying to figure out what she’d do next. Mina needed time and space to sort through the myriad emotions crowding her. 

A hand landed on her shoulder from behind.

"Do not think this ends the matter of Taya Briarcroft. She is only a turned shifter. That does not mean she'll bear a dragon child." The words were whispered in an insidious and evil way into her ear. But when Mina tried to turn to see who it was, there was no one there.