I did not sleep that night.
The name burned before my eyes, no matter if I closed them or drowned them in drink. Halden, Judge. The man who had crushed Lira, who had laughed in the corridor with silver-haired wolves. His face rose clear as day in my memory, the smug curve of his mouth as he passed sentences written in gold.
The Judgment Screen hovered in the dark of my room, casting a pale glow across the torn pages littering the floor. The words shifted, waiting for me:
Select punishment.
My hand trembled as I reached forward. My finger brushed the light, and a list unfolded. Each line dripped with violence. Death by fire. Death by drowning. Death in silence, unseen. Death in spectacle, for all to watch.
My stomach twisted. The choices sickened me, yet my chest tightened with something else. Desire.
I closed my eyes. I remembered Lira's scream as they dragged her away. I remembered the laughter of the judge and his friends. I remembered my mother's tired hands kneading bread for me, believing I would bring justice into the world.
I chose.
The screen pulsed, then dissolved.
The storm outside roared louder, as if answering. A weight pressed down on me, heavy, suffocating. Then, in the silence between thunder, I felt it: a thread pulling me forward, an invisible tether dragging me through the night.
My legs moved before I could resist. I staggered out into the streets, soaked in rain, my robes clinging. The city was asleep, windows dark, but the tether pulled me through winding alleys and empty plazas until I stood before a house of stone.
Judge Halden's home.
The gates were locked, guards asleep beneath their cloaks. Yet as I approached, the air shimmered, and I passed through iron as if it were smoke. My breath caught, but the tether pulled me onward, through halls lined with velvet, until I reached the man's chamber.
Halden slept soundly, his mouth half open, a soft snore rattling from his throat. His face was slack, harmless in slumber. For a moment, my chest ached with doubt. Was this justice, or vengeance? Was I becoming the very thing I hated?
Then the screen appeared above him, floating in the dark.
Proceed with judgment?
I whispered, "Yes."
Halden's eyes snapped open. He gasped, clutching his chest, his body convulsing. His scream tore through the chamber, but no servant stirred, no guard came running. His flesh blackened, his veins burned like fire beneath his skin. His hands clawed at nothing.
I stood frozen, every nerve aflame. My breath hitched, my heart pounding.
It ended in moments. His body slumped, smoke rising faintly from his lips. The room stank of scorched flesh.
Then silence.
The screen pulsed once more.
Judgment complete. Sin ended.
I staggered back against the wall, trembling. My stomach churned. I wanted to vomit, to scream, to pray, but no words came. Only a hollow in my chest, filled with both horror and a fierce, forbidden satisfaction.
The tether snapped. The glow faded. I stumbled back into the storm, the night swallowing me whole.
Somewhere, deep inside, I knew a line had been crossed.
The law had failed. The gods had answered.
And I had killed.