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  “This is ridiculous,” Aunt Deelee muttered, from her folding chair. “Why are you letting her blather on and on? When do we get to the part about my inheritance?”

  “But most of all,” Tandy continued, ignoring her aunt’s outburst. “I am guilty of letting myself fall in love—in love with my slave—the very one I was supposed to train.” She sighed. “I admit now that it was stupid—that I was stupid and naïve. I thought he actually loved me back and instead he ran away and here I am…” She spread her hands to indicate her position, alone and accused before the highest court in the land. “I know that ignorance and stupidity are no excuse for the crimes I committed or the way I attempted to defraud this Council.” She nodded respectfully at the Sacred Seven, all sitting there behind the high, white podium and looking down on her. “But it is the only excuse I have. And to that I can only add, I’m sorry.”

  Then she nodded and sat down. There—she had said her piece. Let the Sacred Seven make of it what they wanted. She had nothing more to add in her own defense.

  “Well…” Mistress Sinda seemed at a loss for what to say and the other Mistresses were muttering among themselves uneasily. But there was one person in the room who wasn’t at a loss for words.

  “I’m tired of this!” Deelee stormed, standing up to face the high, white podium. “When am I going to get my inheritance back? The one she stole from me?” She pointed accusingly at Tandy, as though she had picked the money out of her pocket instead of being Aunt Zora’s rightful heir.

  “I’m sorry, Mistress Deelee,” Mistress Sinda said coolly. “But Tandace disbursed most of the late Mistress Zora’s money and assets in the single hour when she was legally a full-fledged Mistress. And, as she was a Mistress at that time, the transactions she made are legal and binding.”

  “What are you talking about? Where did she send my money?” Aunt Deelee demanded.

  “Well…” Mistress Sinda consulted a small screen in front of her. “It appears that much of it was sent to another party on the other side of the planet. Another hundred thousand credits were sent off planet. And…this is the amount that is left in her personal account, which will revert to you as the next living relative of Mistress Zora.”

  She held out the small hand-held screen and Deelee snatched it and glared at it.

  “What?” she demanded, looking up again. “There must be some mistake—there were millions—billions! This is nothing—a few thousand! I want the rest—it must come back to me!”

  “As I said, Tandace gave it away while she was legally a Mistress so that money is gone,” Mistress Sinda said, motioning for the guard to bring back the screen before Deelee broke it in a fit of rage. “Also, this court does not have the power to wrest private monies that belong to a third party away just because you feel personally injured. It might be different if you were the original intended recipient of Mistress Zora’s wealth but you were not. So I’m sorry, Mistress Deelee, the amount I showed you is all you will receive.”

  “Well, but I’ll have her property at least,” Deelee said, as though trying to comfort herself. “The Sky-needle will bring me hundreds of thousands a month in rent credits.”

  “I’m afraid not,” Mistress Sinda said blandly. “The Sky-needle building in downtown Opulex was deeded away to Mistress Zora’s three elderly slaves at the same time that Tandace freed them—again, while she was legally a full-fledged Mistress. So their ownership of the building is legal and binding.”

  “What?” Deelee exploded. “She gave away the Sky-needle to slaves? And you just let her?”

  “This Council didn’t let her do anything,” Mistress Sinda snapped. Clearly she was getting sick of Deelee’s outbursts. “Tandace did what she wanted with her property during the period when she was legally a Mistress. Because of that, all her contracts are legal and binding. The small sum I showed you is all you will receive, even if all her assets revert to you.”

  “But that’s…that’s…” Deelee was turning purple in the face, her thin hair—which was combed up into a thin fan around her narrow head—quivering with rage.

  “And may I warn you, Mistress Deelee, before you say another word,” Mistress Sinda said, “That this Council is sick and tired of your endless avarice and greed. If Mistress Zora had wanted you to have her money and assets after her death, she would have made you the beneficiary of her will. Seeing that she did not—and in fact didn’t legally leave you anything at all—leads this Council to believe that she didn’t consider you worthy of her wealth. And I, for one, tend to agree.” And she banged the round crystal in her hand loudly against the podium. “Now—moving on…does anyone have any personal plea to enter for Tandace Sweetbottom before the Sacred Seven decide her fate?”

  Tandy bit her lip and looked around the room. Her expensive personal Councilor had explained that while her mother had wanted desperately to come, her brother had suddenly had a complication due to his surgery and she had been unable to travel. Also, she had feared that if she appeared in court on Tandy’s behalf it would make things worse for her, not better.

  After all, her mother had run away with her own slave almost twenty-five cycles before. The Sacred Seven were hardly more likely to be lenient if she returned to speak on her daughter’s behalf after defying the law of Yonnie Six so many years before.

  Tandy understood her reasoning and didn’t blame her mom for not being there. She must feel torn in two, with one child being sentenced—possibly to death—and the other barely hanging onto life during a dangerous and difficult surgery. Still, she wished she could have seen her just one more time. Now that Vrox had abandoned her, it felt like her family were the only people who truly loved her anymore and she missed them all dreadfully.

  “Yes,” Aunt Deelee, who had been fuming in the corner, suddenly broke the waiting silence. “Yes, I have something to say for my niece—a personal plea to make,” she said.

  Tandy looked at her in surprise. After finding out that Aunt Zora’s assets and money were gone beyond retrieving and she was only getting a few thousand out of the billions her late aunt had left, Deelee was the last person she’d imagined would make a personal plea for her. Was her greedy aunt about to surprise her with a plea for mercy?

  “Yes, Mistress Deelee,” Mistress Sinda said formally. “We will hear your personal plea on behalf of your niece, Tandace Sweetbottom.”

  “Very well—here is my plea. Kill her.” Deelee’s poison-green eyes flashed malevolently. “I want her dead and gone and out of my sight! She stole my inheritance and she deserves to die!”

  This seemed to shock even the Sacred Seven. They murmured among themselves and Mistress Gladbag said, “Really, Mistress Deelee, the personal plea is usually for mercy, not death. It’s extremely bloodthirsty of you to ask for your own niece to be killed!”

  Tandy thought so too, but she couldn’t say she was surprised. Aunt Deelee was being true to her character to the end.

  Only it’s my end, not hers, she thought dully. They’ll pump me full of lethal poison within the next hour as soon as they pass judgment. They probably have the syringe all drawn up and ready to go right now…

  “Very well.” Mistress Sinda pounded on the podium with the round crystal again. I’m very sorry it’s come to this, Tandace, but I’m afraid this Council has no choice but to rule that you are guilty of High Treason and you must pay for your crimes. I sentence you to death by—”

  “Wait!” A new voice rang out through the judgment room. “I have something to say—a personal plea to make on behalf of the accused.”

  Tandy’s head jerked up and she saw a lovely Mistress with long dark hair, pale skin, and dark eyes marching down the center of the room. Could that be Mistress Neh’sa? Tandy had heard of her because her Aunt Zora had approved of the other woman’s methods of humane slave treatment and training but she had only seen her once or twice since Zora had never taken her to many social gatherings.

  “Neh’sa!” Mistress Sinda’s gray eyes went wide in obvi