White Heart of Justice by Jill Archer

hadn’t done anything wrong, and no one had complained.
    â€œWe didn’t win.”
    â€œSo I was told,” Glashia said, his voice pitched low with disappointment. He cleared his throat. “
I
would have voted for you. Your interpretation of Justica was very . . . assured.”
    It took every ounce of willpower I had to keep the surprise off my face. I gave Glashia a winsome smile and shrugged.
“Quandoque bonus dormitat discipulus,”
I said.
Even the good student sleeps
or, more loosely translated,
Win some, lose some
.
    Glashia frowned and waved his hand dismissively. If Glashia had a motto it would surely be:
Speak not of losing
.
    â€œMy point is that you seem to have an affinity for the Patron Demon of Judgment, Punishment, and Mercy, Ms. Onyx. Which is why I thought
you
might know who the very first bounty hunter was and what they were after.” I shook my head and he tsked disapprovingly. “Mr. Palladium?”
    Mercator gave me an apologetic smile. (I honestly don’t know how Mercator found the time to read all that he did, what with the Gridiron rank matches, our other law classes, the endless cases, code sections, and hypothetical fact patterns we were supposed to read and memorize, not to mention our need to brief, outline, and discuss all of it with other students
outside
of class in the hopes that we could understand and retain at least half of the information we were exposed to.)
    â€œThe first bounty hunter was a Maegester named Antonius Graemite, who was tasked with finding and retrieving the sword that Metatron made for Justica,
Album Cor Iustitiae
, or the White Heart of Justice.”
    Like every other kid in Halja, I’d heard of the White Heart. It was Metatron’s
magnum opus
, a near-mythical artifact that Metatron supposedly carved out of a giant opal and then ensorcelled for Justica. These days, most people believe that Metatron carved a white sword out of
something
(possibly ivory from the tooth of a defeated demon) and that he probably ensorcelled the sword in some way, but almost no one believes the rest of the legend—that the White Heart was some sort of doomsday weapon or philosopher’s stone.
    Mercator repeated what most of us knew. According to medieval lore (no doubt spread by other Angel heralds and scribes who hoped to follow in Metatron’s entrepreneurial footsteps), Metatron traveled extensively throughout Halja during the middle ages “searching for Justica.” Some believe Metatron found her and the two reigned together for a time in a traveling circuit court over the far-off outposts. Others believe Metatron died on the road, lost and lonely. Many others—including me—believe that Metatron’s love for Justica was merely symbolic. That he revered what she stood for, not the demoness herself.
    â€œIn any case,” Mercator said, “the route of the first ‘House of Metatron’—the covered wagon that Metatron rode around in with Justica’s statue and the White Heart enshrined in the back—was the route of the Old Justice Circuit.”
    â€œWhich was abolished in 1305,” Brunus cut in, apparently anxious to show that he too was capable of contributing to the classroom discussion, “after a group of Maegesters and their Guardians were ambushed and killed by
rogare
demons somewhere along the southern part of the route.”
    â€œTrue,” Glashia said. “But let’s get back to the first bounty hunter case.” Brunus scowled and Glashia continued uncaring that he’d just told Brunus his contribution was factually correct but irrelevant. “So Gaemite was the first bounty hunter and the White Heart was his first target. Did he find it?”
    We all shook our heads. The White Heart was legendary in part because it was still missing. So no one could compare fact with fiction.
Had it really been carved from an opal? Was it truly ensorcelled with