Chapter 95-Displinary hearing (3)

Chapter 95: 95-Displinary hearing (3)

"Who. Was. Waiting. For. Her?"

Sophia’s lips parted, but no answer came. She was rendered speechless by Lumi’s anger. The silence that followed was worse than a confession to the crime she committed.

Lumi stared at her best friend as though she were looking at a stranger wearing Sophia’s face. The wind that had been moving gently through the hotel garden seemed to die altogether. Even the enchanted lanterns hanging from the trees appeared strangely still, their pale light falling across dozens of frozen faces.

No one dared whisper now, not with Lumi standing there, and her magic gathering around her like an approaching storm.

"Sophia," Lumi said again. This time, her voice was quieter, and for some reason, that made it more frightening.

Sophia swallowed. "I didn’t... I didn’t mean to..."

"You didn’t what?"

"I didn’t tell her to go into the forest," she choked on the poisonous air.

Maisa’s brows pulled together. She couldn’t believe the audacity of Sophia to lie and deny what she had done. Why commit a crime if she can’t own the consequences?

Lumi’s eyes narrowed. "Then who did?"

Sophia glanced sideways. It was barely a movement, but everyone saw it. Her gaze landed on Kriza, and the accusation in her eyes was clear.

Kriza’s face immediately drained of colour. "Don’t look at me," she snapped, far too quickly. "You were the one who came up with the idea. Don’t you dare try to push the blame onto me."

Jane’s head whipped toward her. "Kriza!" She felt offended by the sheer shift in Kriza’s attitude. "You told us to do it, and now you are saying that it was Sophia’s idea!"

"And you agreed!" Kriza countered, head strong. Now that things had turned out as they were, she wasn’t taking the entire blame and going down alone. "I didn’t see either of you having an objection to getting rid of Maisa."

The garden erupted. Students began whispering all at once, their voices overlapping as the truth started unravelling in front of them. Professor Primrose raised a hand, but the students were already reacting to the revelation.

Lumi didn’t move, and neither did Varitreya, but their expressions changed.

The darkness that settled in their eyes was like a death threat ready to be unleashed.

Lumi slowly turned her head toward Kriza. "You lied using my name?" She asked her.

Kriza’s throat bobbed. "I..."

"You used my name to lure her into the Dark Forest?" A sinister smile crossed her lips as she made the inquiry. She was pissed to the core and doing her best to hold the beast inside her back. "Am I a weapon for you to deploy?"

"I didn’t know she’d actually cross the border!" Kriza made an excuse.

Maisa felt something inside her twist. Kriza’s words weren’t an apology or an explanation for her behaviour. They were an excuse.

The same girl who had abandoned her in the forest was now standing there trying to explain that she hadn’t expected her to actually do what they had tricked her into doing.

"Despicable!" She spat onto the ground at their shamelessness.

Lumi took one step forward. The grass beneath her boots bent outward as a current of air swept across the garden.

"You didn’t know?" Her voice shook with fury. "Do you understand what that forest is?"

Kriza’s eyes dropped. She did know that that was the whole point. She had counted on Maisa disappearing forever, not for the fiery four to rise as her defenders after the princess saved her.

"Do you understand what could have happened to her?" Lumi’s voice rose. "She could have disappeared in there. She could have been trapped for centuries. She could have been attacked by one of the bloodbound creatures. She could have..."

She stopped herself. Her chest rose and fell. For a moment, she looked toward Maisa, something softened in her expression, but then it hardened again.

"And you used my name to do it. Do you think the name Lumi Ashbourne is something just anyone can utter or use as they please?"

Sophia finally stepped forward. "Lumi, please. That’s enough, okay."

"Don’t!" Lumi glared at her and raised a hand to silence her. The single word stopped Sophia in her tracks. Lumi’s eyes glistened, but no tears fell.

"You were my best friend. You know that I can’t tolerate lies and betrayal the most. How dare you!"

Sophia’s face crumpled as the wind blew her back a few steps. "I am your best friend. I did this because I am your friend..."

"No," Lumi shook her head slowly and rejected her. "Not after this."

The words landed harder than any shout could have. Sophia stared at her, dumbfounded. "Lulu..."

"Don’t call me that."

The nickname hung between them like something sacred that had just been broken.

Maisa watched silently. She was no longer focused on the injustice she faced but on Lumi and the look in her eyes. It was exactly the same as the one the blueblood had in her dreams.

The way Lumi stood against betrayal and refused to give Sophia a chance to speak up, for a moment, it felt like she was the one on trial, and Lumi was cutting ties with her.

For Sophia, it was an easy punishment since the girl only used her name, but for her, it would be worse.

’Would you be this cold to me when the truth of your father’s death comes out?’

She had expected anger from Lumi and punishment, but she hadn’t expected to feel sorry for Sophia.

The girl had made a terrible choice. There was no denying that. But watching Lumi realize that the person she trusted most had deliberately used her name to hurt someone she was beginning to care about was painful.

Maisa’s heart ached. She took a step back, losing her confidence. Injustice was easy to demand when ones hands were clean of sins, but hers were tainted. Today, she put Sophia on trial, and tomorrow, it will be her turn.

’If I could turn back the hand of time and change my birth and avoid being born an Everheart....’ She choked.

Her eyes lowered, and she looked guiltily than those who’d wronged her. A sharp chill crossed her spine.

"Don’t call me that ever again, Sophia. We are not friends... we are not blood mates... we are nothing..." The declaration settled like sinking sand that threatened to swallow Sophia.

She but her lip and resisted the urge to scream until there was no more air in her lungs.

"From this moment moving forward, you and I... we are estranged!"

Lumi straightened and composed her magic. She glanced coldly and indifferently at Sophia like she was looking at someone she didn’t know.

"Lumi.." Sophia had no way to defend herself or calm Lumi’s anger. She turned to Maisa. "I truly hope that a day never comes when you are standing in my shoes, Maisa Loven."

Maisa swallowed. Hard. That time might come sooner rather than later when her true identity comes to light.

Addessa remained silent through the whole exchange. Her arms were folded tightly across her chest, but her expression was difficult to read. She had spent days being pulled in opposite directions: her mother’s demands on one side and the bond on the other.

Now, seeing the consequences of what Kriza and the others had done, she couldn’t help wondering how much worse things could have become but it also gave her the floor to turn the school and her friends against Maisa.

’I can take advantage of this hearing to make everyone see and sympathise with Kriza, Sophia, and Jane and turn against Maisa!’ Her lips curved up.

Her eyes locked onto Maisa. ’For Asher and my mother’s honour, I will be your ruin, Maisa Loven!’