The chamber was carved entirely from dark volcanic stone, its walls lined with the names of every hybrid ever judged there, ancient script running floor to ceiling in a record so long it disappeared into shadow before it ended. Jasmine understood, walking beneath it, that she was not the first to stand accused in this room. She was simply the first in a very long time to walk in without chains.

Seven Council elders sat at the high dais, robed in the muted colors of their respective bloodlines — wolf, witch, vampire, and three others Jasmine didn't recognize, ancient enough that their kind had nearly vanished from the world entirely....