Chapter 102-Drawing lines (2)

Chapter 102: 102-Drawing lines (2)

"Are you questioning the ruling of the blood heir of the vampire nation, Lumi Ashbourne?"

Lumi eyes widened. What Varitreya was describing sounded like treason. Quickly, she fell to her knees. The movement was so sudden that several students flinched, but Lumi seemed not to notice.

She lowered her head until her blue hair spilt forward, hiding most of her face, her posture suddenly stripped of the confidence she had carried only moments before.

For the first time, she wasn’t standing beside Varitreya as a friend, a council member, or someone who had earned the privilege of speaking freely in the princess’s presence.

She was kneeling before her sovereign. "I wouldn’t dare, Your Highness." Her voice was quieter now, carefully controlled. "Forgive my insolence."

A collective gasp swept through the garden. Then, almost instinctively, heads began to lower one after another.

Students who had been watching openly immediately bowed their heads. Professors followed, their expressions becoming solemn as the weight of the moment settled over them. Even those who had never understood the true extent of the authority carried by the whiteblood princess could no longer pretend it was merely a title.

This was the first time Lumi Ashbourne had ever knelt before Varitreya. Before today, she had never needed to.

Their friendship, their position on the Student Council, her father ans mother’s positions in the nation and the years they had spent together had created a strange sense of familiarity between them that Lumi could speak to Varitreya when others couldn’t.

She could question her decisions, tease her, disagree with her, and stand at her side without being reminded of the enormous difference between their bloodlines, but that illusion had just shattered.

Varitreya had drawn the line by reminding Lumi of her place. The garden became so quiet that even the faint rustling of leaves sounded painfully loud.

No one dared raise their head. No one dared whisper about it and risk losing their tongue, their immortality, or their heads. The students were beginning to understand what this hearing truly meant.

If Lumi Ashbourne, one of the princess’s closest companions, a respected member of the Student Council, someone who had stood beside Varitreya for years could be brought to her knees with a single question... then what chance did anyone else have?

The professors exchanged uneasy glances before quickly lowering their eyes again. One understaing crossed their eyes, things were changing.

The rules everyone had grown accustomed to were shifting beneath their feet, and for the first time, the students could see just how dangerous that change could become.

No friendship could guarantee protection, no position was untouchable, and no bloodline, no matter how respected, made someone completely safe.

And if even Lumi Ashbourne had to kneel before Princess Varitreya today, then every vampire standing in that garden understood the same terrifying truth: No one was above the princess’s judgment.

"My ruling is final, and whoever questions it can join the guilty in facing the blood trial!"

Inside, Maisa cracked. She could almost feel it happen; a tiny, devastating fracture somewhere beneath her ribs, where hope had been holding itself together by nothing more than a thread. The flower of fate above her heart flickered, and the brightest petal began to fade.

The white petal, Varitreya’s petal, It had been the brightest of the four. It pulsed with a strength none of the others could match, glowing whenever Varitreya was near, as though the bond itself recognized how close she and Varitreya had gotten.

The black petal, despite Addessa’s rejection and the distance she had deliberately created between them, had never seemed as painful as watching the white one dim but now it was fading and it was fading faster than the black one.

Maisa’s breath caught. Varitreya wouldn’t even look at her anymore, and perhaps that hurt more than the judgment.

She would have preferred anger. She would have preferred cold words, even disappointment. Anything would have been easier than being treated as though she wasn’t there.

For a moment, Maisa remembered everything that had happened between them. The moments she had stood beside the princess when she had no right to, the trust that had slowly formed between them, the strange warmth she had begun to associate with Varitreya’s presence. She remembered how impossible it had once seemed that someone like her could ever become important to someone like Varitreya.

And now, all of it felt as though it had been undone in a single moment by Addessa’s hatred.

One accusation, one demand for a blood trial, and suddenly, everything Maisa had built with the princess felt fragile enough to disappear.

Her stomach twisted. Without warning, memories surged through her mind. She recalled the choking terror of sand, the unbearable heat of fire against her hand, the helplessness, and the fear that had paralysed her body.

Her body reacted before her thoughts could stop it. Her shoulders stiffened, her fingers curled tightly against her palms, and every muscle seemed to lock in place. She felt sick just imagining going through that again.

Maisa lowered her head, desperately trying to steady her breathing, but the memories refused to loosen their grip. Her body trembled beneath the effort of containing them.

Then, a tear slipped free. It travelled slowly down her cheek before falling from her chin. She didn’t wipe it away. There was no point.

For the first time since arriving at Veris Academy, Maisa didn’t feel like an outsider who had somehow been given a place among people who should never have accepted her. She felt like an intruder who had finally been exposed.

Her gaze dropped to the ground. A terrible thought whispered through her mind. ’Is this my karma?’ her throat tightened at the thought. ’Is this my punishment for all the vampire blood my family has shed?’

She closed her eyes. Maybe that was the price, and the universe had simply decided that she had been given too much mercy already that now it was time to collect the debt left behind by generations of hunters before her.

The thought made her chest ache because, for the first time, Maisa wasn’t afraid of the punishment. She was afraid that maybe she deserved it, and a face’s hand was working to ensure she received it.

’Maybe I should take the blood trial and consider it payment for the life debts I owe?’

Before her thoughts could settle, Addessa stepped forward. Zolani immediately moved between them and blocked Addessa’s view of Maisa.

Addessa stopped. She leaned forward just enough to speak quietly. "Why are you frightened? The blood will reveal the truth. If she’s innocent, nothing will happen to her. But if she has ever committed a crime against vampires... oof..." she released a breath with a fake sympathetic smile crossing her smile. "I’d hate to be her."

Maisa looked up, and more tears streamed down. Reality hit her. She wasn’t going to survive the blood trial because she had sinned against vampires. She was going to fall at the trial, harder than she had ever fallen before.

Zolani’s eyes flashed with anger and rage. "You’re heartless, Addessa Challan."

Addessa laughed softly. "I’m a vampire, darling," she reminded and straightened. "What else did you expect?" Her gaze swept over the gathered students before returning to Zolani and meeting her crimson eyes head on. "Human compassion?"