Chapter 331: Sienna’s suspicions.
Nat Delaney refused to budge, and this refusal resulted in all of the guards lunging forward as if the man had attacked Sienna. Some pulled, some tugged, some pinched or tore his clothes. But in the end, they dragged him out of the office and aunt Linera made sure to tell the guards never to allow him onto the grounds without Sienna’s permission.
Sienna, meanwhile, stared at the squirming Harley with a less than pleased face. "You are a mess and a fool. I have no words for you because I want to punch you. What you have done is a betrayal of the trust your daughter and wife have in you. If it were up to me, I would order Icona to divorce you immediately. It says in your file that you have three other children. Have you made similar arrangements for any of them to pay off your debts?"
"No." Harley leaped, voice loud like thunder. "I would never sell my children, and I was not selling Bonnie. No matter how this looks, my intentions were not bad. Maybe a little selfish, but not bad."
Mija swung her hand, almost slapping Harley across the cheek.
Sienna caught her friend’s hand before it could make contact. "Easy, Mija. I don’t want to bail you out from a prison cell today." She looked at Icona, with a grim face. "I am going to ask you a very important question."
Icona froze. The seriousness on Sienna’s face had only been seen once: when Nat Delaney said he had been studying the lay for ten years.
"Have you ever left Bonnie alone with Nat?" Sienna asked.
Icona frowned. "What are you implying?" Deep down, she knew where the conversation was going.
Sienna leaned forward, placing her two hands on the table. "You know what I mean. Nat Delaney has been targeting her since she was at least fifteen, and it could have been sooner. That makes him a sick predator. Maybe, he was related to her mental break."
Icona whimpered. Harley rose, eyes wide, veins bulging, hands clenched. He looked like a man ready to start a fight. Soft whispers and gasps traveled through the room.
"He was a friend, we trusted him." Icona whimpered. "He used to babysit Bonnie sometimes."
"Has Bonnie ever engaged in sexual relations?" Mija asked strongly, impatiently.
Icona shook her head. "No. No way. She has never had a boyfriend and I am always watching her. She is rarely out of my sight unless I leave her with a trusted friend or relative."
Mija snorted. "Nat Delaney was a trusted friend to you until he tried to marry her."
Sienna sighed. "I still need you to follow my aunt Linera and the court clerk to the hospital. I want Bonnie to be examined. Nat Delaney has been targeting her for years. I find it hard to believe that he has never acted on his sick desires."
Icona rose quickly, grabbing Bonnie’s hand so firmly that the woman cried out. But Icona didn’t dare to look back as she rushed out. Harley followed them in a hurry.
One lawyer, one court clerk, a counselor and Linera followed them.
Sienna dismissed everyone from the office for the moment. Her next case was a simple mediation session between a boy and his parents over the choice of academy. After that, she had to meet the managers of the recreation artifact factories. Her last meeting was with the head of the fox youth league association.
By the time these meetings ended, it was forty minutes past lunch. She had barely noticed the hour slipping away as she did her duties and she was about to go over the half-finished notes Mika had left on her desk when the door opened. The scent of roasted venison and spiced bamboo shoots drifted in before the fox lord himself appeared, balancing two fox boxes in his hands. They took turns surprising each other with lunch in the office lately.
"You’ll starve yourself into a ghost," he muttered, setting the food boxes down on her table.
Sienna smiled faintly, grateful but unwilling to admit how hollow her stomach felt. They settled on the soft fur couch in the corner and ate in the quiet of the office, the howling wind outside muffled by thick stone walls.
Halfway through the meal, Sienna set down her fork. "I need your help," she said, her voice low, urgent. "There is a man named Nat Delaney that I suspect of preying on a mentally stunted beast woman. I am still waiting for evidence but I got a message from aunt Linera telling me to brace myself so I am sure they are bringing bad news. What I fear now is that this man is a sick pervert who may have harmed other children or women in the tribe."
Elias’s ears twitched, his expression sharpening. "Don’t you have any evidence on you that we can use?"
"No, just my suspicions." Sienna admitted. "And a statement he made that I can’t ignore."
Elias leaned, considering. "I trust your instincts, we can invoke Urgent Shadow Inquiry."
Sienna blinked. "What’s that?"
"A law that allows expedited searched when suspicion outweighs proof, though it’s rarely granted. The king must approve." He was already pulling his phone out as he explained. Elias called the king directly, his tome clipped and formal. "No time for greetings, Your Majesty. I am requesting an Urgent Shadow Inquiry into Nat Delaney. My wife suspects that he has harmed children. Evidence is thin, but the danger is grave."
On the other end, the king’s voice rumbled with irritation. "You always demands exceptions, Elias. And yet, you still refused to share pictures of your underwear in our group chat. Other beast lords shared. Do you think yourself above camaraderie?"
Sienna nearly choked on her water, eyes widening.
Elias’s jaw tightened. "With respect, Your Majesty, some things are not meant for public display. This matter concerns the safety of my tribe’s cubs. I beg you to focus for once."
The king grumbled, muttering about humorless foxes. Finally he sighed. "Very well. The Urgent Shadow Inquiry is approved. But you owe me."