Chapter 285. Trial III

Chapter 285: 285. Trial III

Maisie

I stood at the top of the staircases, dressed in the hideous white dress, the dye washed out of my hair, the strands straightened painstakingly and cut evenly, so I had a shoulder length bob.

The sleeves of the dress stopped mid length of my arm, and the neckline was lowered, enough to still decent and yet, enough to reveal enough skin to show my scars.

And that might have been the problem. The reason my fingers kept curling and uncurling on stairs railing. Or at least, one of the reasons.

The artists had accentuated my scars by lining them with silver glitter. They were practically glowing, and if I was willing to spare even another glance at them, I’d almost say they looked like pretty tattoos.

I was sure everyone in that hall would be able to see it from miles away. I had no idea what Soren had planned with this, but he could’ve had a conversation with me first. Considering it was my fucking body he’d turned into a freaking canvas.

I took another step down the stairs and my stomach tightened with nerves.

While I barely remembered everything that transpired after the incident at Greymoor, I’d gotten more than enough flashes in the bathroom to nearly trip over the tiles and crack my neck.

This was it.

Actually, this was a lot of things.

The first conversation with the truth out in the open. The first conversation after seeing my death through my eyes. The first conversation after... I swallowed.

It was highly likely they’d gotten the results back from the hospital at some point while I’d been... indisposed. Chances were, they already knew what I’d been trying to hide.

I didn’t know what to expect. Would they treat me any differently? Would I lose value? After all, I was coveted because of my fertility, so much so, it had become born a blessing and curse in disguise.

It was a little hard to reconcile the stark difference now. Knowing how much I’d lost, and how much I could still lose. What if they grew to resent me for being unable to give them children? It was in the Lycan male’s nature to want children, that more than regular men. It was like their beast’s prerogative was simply to knot and multiply.

I could no longer give them that. To be honest, every future I imagined after getting justice didn’t seem realistic.

Could we ever truly be happy again? Would we ever be rid of the shadows of the Queen, the pain, the trauma, and the responsibility that continued to weigh heavy on my shoulders?

Would I ever really let myself go with them again, knowing that if they completed the Erasthai bonding with me again and there ever came a time again to open or close a rift, and I tapped into that unimaginable source of power, I could drain and kill them all?

I was a danger. To them. To myself. To Greymoor. To Ashbourne.

I’d known that before. But after the competition, I was sure about it.

I had power I didn’t understand. I had a darkness in me. A rage. A thirst for blood and pain.

Perhaps, I’d been cursed from birth. I had mother to thank for that.

Someone careened into me from behind and I nearly fell off the stairs.

"Maisie!" Juliette squealed and I barely caught myself on the edge before she bombarded me with kisses all over my face.

"Oh, thank goodness you’re alright!" she exclaimed, wide eyes running over me. She looked beautiful in her soft blue formal dress.

"Hi, Juliette--"

"How do you feel? Better? It’s been so terribly dull without you. The mansion has been several levels of hell. Everyone’s so cranky--and I say this after experiencing their worst after you disappeared--they’ve been unbearable..."

In the next thirty seconds as we descended the staircases, Juliette talked faster than I could respond, but I got the general gist of it.

My husbands were snapping at everything. Including each other. Soren was stressed out from the constant meetings with the Council as Asbourne underwent repairs from the attacks. He often returned and went straight for the private gym. Quinlan had been returning home with his knuckles and face bruised. Jericho was moody as hell.

They’d replaced the punching bags and the treadmills more than sixteen times in the last five days.

Juliette also thought it’d be best if I stayed away from the gym completely. Apparently, it’d been destroyed during a fight.

Gee, who knew they were having so much fun without me?

The school was being rebuilt and classes were on an indefinite hold until that was over.

Though, that didn’t stop the students from coming around to help to make the repairs faster, and then getting drunk and fucking at the bonfires they held right after to send off the dead. Hellsgrave and Greymoor, alike.

I wished I could say I was surprised.

"There’s also been a... umm..." She bit her lip as we rounded the corner. She seemed to be debating if she should mention it to me.

"What is it?" I asked.

She shook her head as we reached the living room area. "You’ll see."

The second I stepped into the living room area, three pairs of eyes and one hidden behind false lens rose and pinned me to the spot.

Soren, Jericho and Quinlan were dressed all businesslike in dark and grey suits perfectly tailored to their broad, large muscled bodies, and I had no idea what the hell Juliette was talking about.

There didn’t seem to be any animosity between them as they sat together, huddled over a couple of files with Alden. Or maybe I didn’t notice because I was too distracted by how mouthwatering and delicious they all looked.

And I had this irresistible urge, far more than I had felt recently, to hike up my dress and be bent over Quinlan thigh, just so he could---

No. Wait a damn minute. That wasn’t my thought. It wasn’t even my Lycan thinking it.

Quinlan’s cheeks turned beet red and I realized his thought had slipped into my head. I bet it wasn’t even his original thought, because he seemed just as startled as me.

My gaze flicked higher to the point where his collar met his skin and I was sure I was going to die.

He was marked.

My eyes snapped to Soren’s collar and I began screeching internally when I found the same mark on his throat, so out in the open that everyone could see it, even with his tie lined impeccably around his neck.

Jericho was no better. He had twin bites on either sides of his neck, and I began to wonder just how much of a witch my Lycan was.

While it was damn right satisfying to find that she had left our marks on them, I knew it was only a matter of time before I found myself back where I was nine months ago one day, going insane and trying to find a way to save them.

Even worse, other than Quinlan’s mark, I hadn’t been marked. Which just dialed things up to a fucked up percent because it was like the equivalent of pouring a vial of love potion into three territorial males drinks.

I was so screwed.

"Er..." Juliette started when the silence and tension grew so thick, I could barely draw a breath in. "Breakfast?"

I fidgeted, unsure what came next, and the silence fell for all of one second before Soren, Quinlan and Jericho were standing in front me.

The questions came out all at once and I fought the urge to flee from the living room.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Do you hurt anywhere?" A hand touched over my forehead. "The fever is gone--"

Another hand grabbed at my arm. Soren’s. "I made you breakfast. Come on, I’ll set the table for you--"

"No," Quinlan countered. "I made her breakfast. You can both fuck off." He smiled down at me and cupped my cheeks. "I’ll hand-feed you while we drive to the Council hall--"

Jericho wrenched him apart. "You’re both scaring her--"

"You’re just trying to get one up on us..."

I blinked rapidly as they began to argue and then fight.

What the hell was happening?

****

"The lack of sufficient evidence makes it difficult to build a compelling case for you, Princess," Alden explained as Richie drove us ahead to the hearing.

It was just us and Juliette. Soren and Quinlan and Jericho were in separate cars behind us. They’d been arguing so much about doing things for me, and who I was supposed to ride with that I’d opted out of both breakfast and riding with them before they killed each other.

I shuddered. It was just too weird.

"Both Councils already have enough probable cause to sentence you to death with all of the evidence you are being prosecuted with. Which is why our aim today isn’t to clear your name," Alden continued.

"Our aim, over the next few weeks, is to change their perspective of you. Now, all they know of you is that you are a... er... murderer. An adulteress. A thief and a terrorist. If we cannot clear your name, we can at least try to make them see you as more than that. We will lean into the materials we have available."

He paused and shifted his glasses up his nose. He smiled a little. "This may seem an impossible case. But I will make sure you walk free today, at least. And then we’ll have bought more than enough time to gather other evidence over the next couple of weeks."