"Wait!" I said.

This time, I wasn't sure what I was going to say, or if I should have spoken up at all. After our trip to the Other Side, it seemed to me I was getting wiser about some things, but I still had no idea what to do with Atticus, and what to think of him.

Perhaps, he didn't deserve to live --- though I believed that everybody did. But he wasn't going to die on my watch, not after I'd promised him I was always going to watch over him.

I shot a panicked look at Jonathan. I hoped he understood where I was coming from, and wasn't secretely disappointed in seeing me constantly enabling people who'd given me an hard time.

"I would like to hear what the Prophet has to say in defence of his brother," the King said. After a few seconds, Naftali nodded in agreement. If he hadn't, I wasn't sure if the man would have any jurisdiction towards me.

"I'm not defending him," I said. "I can't do that. Even if he hadn't drunk the blood, things would have needed to change between us. He is dangerous, and he has always manipulated anyone he was supposed to care about."

"You're not helping," Jonathan coughed. "Unless you desire to see his situation getting even worse."

"I haven't finished," I continued.

"Please don't say something we hardly care about," Chae-won yawned. "If you're making a big deal just because he is your brother, then you can save it. Most villains have a family, and we have already wasted much time. So, unless you plan to say something we can understand..."

"I do," I insisted. "Atticus has taken care of me ever since I was a small child, and he was but one himself. He has given me a chance to survive, and perhaps even to thrive, in a home where nobody cared about us. If he'd left me to my fate, or to our father's care, then he would practically have left me out to die. I'd always fooled myself he'd done it out of kindness. Now, I'm not so sure, but the result is the same. He taught me things that helped me develop as a Prophet and a fighter. In short, I owe him."

"This could be interpreted as you claiming you owe him your life," Tori suggested. "In that case, some people might ask for a swap of places. But this couldn't be done, even if we wanted to. He's the dangerous criminal, most likely about to go crazy, who has just stolen an innocent life and conspired with a murderer, and you're one of the few Prophets, recently hailed as a hero, with valuable assets."

Jonathan had paled at Tori's words. I understood from his face there was nothing he wouldn't do to stop them, if this had been my plan and the Court had agreed to it. It was a strange but warm feeling to know that someone cared.

"Don't overestimate, Tori, you've gone too far," I added hastily. "I wouldn't give my own life for my brother's. It would be to say that our lives are the same, and they aren't. While he taught me everything that made me a hero, he hasn't taught me my principles. He is self-serving and that's the main reason why he's ended up in this position."

"Are you saying that we should value that having... feelings is more important than skills?" Chae-won mouth twisted up. "What are you, a poet?"

"I might be," I threatened them. "And that's precisely my point. There is a person who opened up my heart and, in doing so, taught me much more about myself and my capabilities than my brother has ever done. That person is the only one I would die for. To think that I would die in place of my brother is laughable."

Atticus was staring at me wide-eyed. I tried to conceal the truth. A while ago, I might have done it. If Atticus had died, I would have done everything to bring him back --- even give my life in exchange. But that kind of devotion was for a brother I was realizing I had never really known, only wished for.

"Laughable?" User murmured. "Is he crazy?"

"The brother might have taught him that, too," Naftali pondered. "I fear he is just wasting our time as his allies try to make an escape."

"Let me be quicker then," I replied. I was no Minx Morris, but I could tell when I was losing my crowd's attention.

"Atticus has saved me once when I was small, and he has given me a second chance in raising me to be better than I would have turned out otherwise, or so I assume. I want to pay back the favor. I would like to save him once, and to give him a second chance to become the man I hope he wants to become."

"You're not a genie," User snapped. "You can't grant wishes."

"But the Court can grant my wish," I said, trying to maintain a steady voice. "Of course, I am aware that I am the one who owes Atticus a favor, and not you. If you spare his life --- you can choose what to do with it, whether to interrogate him, experiment, or imprison him it's not my business --- you can ask anything of me."

I started regretting the last statement as soon as it left my lips. Who knew what kind of sick ideas they could manage to come up with.

They weren't all like Bertha, I had to remind myself. But Jonathan's green face didn't help --- he did know their characters better than I did.

While they were busy deciding whether they could take me seriously or not, I noticed the King was looking at me. He must have seen countless bold declarations like mine in his time of ruling, but I still couldn't understand the look on his face --- he could be impressed, or think I was very dumb, and his poker face wouldn't betray him.

"Let's hope for the best," Jonathan told me. "I understand. For all it's worth, I didn't want to see him die either."

"Be careful," Mira told me instead. "I get where you're coming from, but you might have bargained more than he was worth."

"Roman Sibian," User Sad told me. "Are you willing to pay the price we see fit to spare your older brother Atticus' life, and give him a second chance?"

It was nothing more or less than what I'd already said, but I understood why they had to ask. If I said yes now, I would make it official. There would be no turning back.

I was about to confirm, when a voice suddenly cut through the silence.

"Wait," Jonathan said. "Roman hasn't done anything that requires any sort of punishment. I waited, though cynically, that one of you would grant his request out of mercy. Since, as I feared, you can't do that, then I vouch for Atticus too. Whatever you're going to ask of Roman, I want in."

"It makes sense," Chae-won commented. Perhaps she was smarter than I was, because I hadn't connected the dots --- all I could hear was Jonathan sacrificing himself for me, and I could not phatom why.

"Aurora Metis has already pledged she won't be working with Mister Morris again," she continued. "Mira Abas will be controlled to prevent any kind of interaction between her and her... former fiancè. But what about you two? I sense that, in giving yourselves over to the Court, you're trying to buy your innocence."

"No," Minx cried. "Jonathan, Roman... don't do that! you were the most important puzzle pieces. You still don't know the whole story."

I gave him the stink eye. Now the members of the Court would have no doubt we were trying to 'buy' our freedom.

"However," Naftali continued cooly. "Jonathan Loreta could tell you firsthand that freedom cannot be bought."

Sometimes, the games the Court members played with my friend went right over my head. I didn't dare ask, though, and, certainly, not in front of them.

"Dominic," Atticus whispered. He couldn't use his powers, but I was afraid it hardly mattered. To see his beautiful and proud face shattered, his golden curls falling astray over his head and to the top of his Megleni nose, a lot of people who didn't know better would be moved into helping him, even with the blood that still stained his lips.

Luckily, nobody seemed impressed by how easily he looked the part of the hero --- and his golden wings were slowly retreating.

"Let the Court speak to them, I am curious to what they have to say," he went on, after a while.

"Is this simply because you don't want to die?" Minx laughed.

"On the contrary," Atticus replied. "I've never cared to become a Watcher in the first place. If it was up to me, I'd already be dead."

"So..." Minx' eyes widened. "Can it be? Of course. You're still a poor boy from Old Solima, despite all your tricks. You had to show what you were made of in front of the King, and now you wish to hear the Court speak. Despite everything, this is all very foreign to you."

"If you listen to people talk, you can learn all useful things," my brother said. "Assuming you'll be able to use your information later on. I am sad to say that I had never really cared about a particular person in this conversation, before, but now I'm seeing them with different eyes."

He looked at Jonathan with a calculating expression that I didn't like. 

Of course, getting close to someone meant risking them getting close to Atticus, too. I wondered whether I'd forgotten, or stopped caring.

"I think I'm way past my bedtime," the King yawned. "Please, Court, let me know how you're going to settle this matter. It's very interesting to me, as it concerns the murders investigation too. As for Mira Abas, do not dare go too far --- she gave me precious and wonderful news about my nephew, Cypress, and I need her in one piece to help me continue looking for him, at least until I don't involve other people."

"Of... course," Naftali stammered. Then, when King Abraham had gone, he added. "Though it amazes me how he can still trust her."

"Watchers aren't that much better than us blood-drinkers," Minx replied. "To a powerless human, we are all probably the same."

I strongly doubted it, but there would be no reason trying to argue with Minx about something. He was clearly already delusional.

"Roman Sibian," Hac Chae-won called me. "You still haven't answered whether you mean to pledge yourself to us."

"I think he was waiting for you to answer me," Jonathan said. "About whether I could share his burden."

I felt uneasy. Jonathan's position was very vulnerable. What's more, he might have been right about not wanting to see Atticus die, but it was obvious he wasn't going such great lengths for my brother --- which only meant that he was doing it for me.

"You're really annoying," Tori Coleen rolled her eyes. "What if, for example, we wanted a Prophet? And not just one that helps us out from time to time, like Cora and Evangeline, but a full-time Prophet? Where would that leave you?"

"I wouldn't be of much use," I admitted. "Look... I hate to drag Jonathan into this, but since he has already exposed himself, I'll say it. We work better in a team. There is a reason why we were able to go to the Other Side, do our bidding, and come back. We relied on each other."

I felt slightly bad, but a tiny part of me felt glad that Bertha had died. We couldn't mention our quest around her, who had strongly hoped it would go sour, without getting an excessive amount of glares and eye-rolling in our direction. At least, now, the other Court members took their time to value my words.

"Look," Jonathan added. "If anyone of you was afraid that we were going against the Endless One with the mission, that's the same fear Bertha had, and look how she turned out."

"Atticus felt weary, too," I suddenly remembered. "The Chaos dimension must be sealed completely. Everyone who ever said otherwise turned out to be someone who didn't care about the people... or even about other Watchers!"

"I don't understand," Atticus commented cruelly. "Do you wish to be punished in my stead, or to be complimented, and treated as heroes? Or you think that taking my punishment off my shoulders is going to make you look even more heroic? Because I wouldn't bother with that."

"Trust me," Jonathan scoffed. "I wouldn't either. I already know that there is nothing I can do that can make me appear like an hero in front of these people."

"Very well," Chae-won sighed. "You both owe the Court a favor in exchange for Atticus' life. It has to have the same value, or should I say, a directly proportional one. For, though we don't value Atticus Sibian's life very much, we were hoping to put him to death, which struck to us as quite important."

"Now, if you don't mind," Naftali added. "We would like some privacy to discuss what can be the nature of the favor, and how you can repay it."

"You'll regret it," Atticus said immediately. He was next to Jonathan, Mira and I, still hand-cuffed and numb from the pills. 

"You're probably already regretting it as we speak," he added.

"To have you around, knowing what you're really capable of is no pic-nic," I shut him up. "Of course we are already regretting it. I started regretting it the moment the words left my mouth, but we have to take care of each other. I also don't like meaningless death."

"Well," Atticus said. "I don't like meaningless life, and that's all my life has been so far. This outcome is embarrassing. I didn't know Minx would be arrested. This is even worse than when I accidentally died for Aurora. To do things that are so reckless, only to be embarrassed in the aftermath, is its own special form of torture."

"Right," Mira snapped. "Because we wouldn't know anything about that. It's not like I had just accepted Minx' proposal in front of everyone right before he showed his true colors!"

Atticus regarded her as if to say he didn't consider himself in the same league of everybody else. 

Jonathan and I winced. "Sorry," I said. "We kind of pressured you to go along with it."

"You didn't pressure me," Mira told us. "I asked for advice... And, well, you gave me the wrong one. Sometimes it happens, and your hearts were in the right place. Besides, it's not like I wouldn't have done it. I was set to do it, anyway."

She held her head in her hands and stopped speaking for a while. For her, that night probably still looked like an never ending nightmare.

It wasn't any easier to accept Atticus' behaviour, even as I already suspected him, but it was less hard to wrap my head around it, especially with my brother offering bored comments over his situation. Nothing is more grounding than being scolded from someone you just saved from the gallows.

"I hope your punishment is to watch over me," Atticus told Jonathan and I, stealing a meaningful glance in my friend's direction. "One day, perhaps, they'll forget the pills, or they'll decide I'm not worth the trouble, and I'll charm you senseless into believing anything I say."

"Atticus!" Mira exclaimed. "Is this the way to thank them for saving you?"

"I already told you I don't really care about that," he commented off-handledly. "In my life, I had been granted one good plan, and I ruined it. Now there is no point faking who I really am for anyone anymore."

"Come on, Jonathan," I told my friend. "We don't need to hear this. Let's go take a walk."

Atticus watched us wistfully until we were far enough from prying eyes.

"I can't tell," I began angrily, kicking small rocks. "I can't tell whether he's always been this way, deep down, or the blood is already driving him mad."

"I think you know the answer to that question," Jonathan told me gently. "I don't doubt the blood makes ine lose their mind, but you'd have to be pretty deranged already to just think about drinking it. I'm more worried about what happens what the addiction starts. We can't let him kill other people."

"We'll feed him," I suggested weakly.

"I hope you're joking," Jonathan said. "By the way, let's not think too far ahead. Perhaps it'll be a problem for the Court. We still don't know what they plan for Atticus --- we might not get to see him so much."

"I feel stupid for saying this," I muttered. "But I would have liked for Atticus to pretend he was happy we saved him."

Jonathan nodded.

I thought about the last time I'd seen Atticus wear his disguise. 

He had smiled, no matter how vacantly, and told us he would drink to Jonathan's health. That Atticus was scary because he could hide behind a friendly exterior, but the new one was worse --- he didn't care to follow the rules of society anymore, not even to save face.

"It's not stupid," Jonathan said. "You wanted something to go back to normal. And though you would have known Atticus would have probably secretly resented us, you were hoping we would have more time to deal with it."

"It pains me to say that you're actually pretty clever," I teased him. "Among all the other complimentary things you like being called."

"Actually," I pondered. "I think that being clever could be your main thing."

"I hope this means you'll stop calling me pretty boy, then," Jonathan blushed.

"Well," I smiled. "Yeah. Though sometimes I won't be able to resist the urge."

"Before you say anything," Jonathan was suddenly serious. "I am glad I said I would help you out, with the Court. I hope you don't feel like it's some sort of burden, or failure, on your part, because I wouldn't want it any other way."

"Then," I said. "You'll simply have to witness it and bear it."

"What?" 

"I'm not sure how long I'll be able to go easy on them if they keep making fun of you."