Desa winced against the sound of two dozen angry voices all speaking over one another. They had gathered in the conference room at City Watch Headquarters. Every seat at the long, wooden table was occupied. Some people were even pressed against the bare, white walls or sitting on a counter with their backs to the long window that looked out on Main Street.
Watchmen, Justice Keepers, city councillors, Leyrian diplomats: They all wanted to have their say, and they wanted it now! Like squabbling children. She wanted to smack each and every one of them.
Kalia stood up with her hands raised defensively, having changed out of her b****y dress into something that she might have worn back in her sheriff days – beige trousers and a short, brown coat. “All right!” she shouted. “That’s enough! We w
