Chapter 291. Trial IX

Chapter 291: 291. Trial IX

Maisie

Levi, spurned on by the Court’s new interest, carried on. "You see, when she was brought it, she wasn’t healing, which was a case for concern. The tests run on her showed she had enough ash in her blood stream to have killed her, and by the time she reached us, it had spread through her whole body, robbing her body of it’s ability to heal. We had to pump her blood free of it, and even then, we had to perform a human surgical procedure on her to stop the bleeding. If you’ll notice the stitches on her. And even after the successful surgery, there were lingering side effects."

"Such as?" Alden asked.

"She was paralyzed," Levi explained. "In fact, I suspect she had lost all motor function before she fell."

"You’re drawing conclusions--"

Levi shook his head. "A regular amount of ash renders a Lycan as weak as a human within seconds. With the amount that had been in her body and how swiftly reacting it is, it would have been impossible for her to have enough motor skills to move her fingers, let alone push."

He spread his fingers like a teacher tutoring the class. "You see, the lacerations on the deceased, from the photos the Councilwoman presented, it shows how he was stabbed, with enough force that it shattered the bones in his back. She couldn’t have done that in that condition."

Silence descended on the courtroom. The tide had turned. I didn’t need to look to know the crowd’s judgment had melted into doubt.

"Why now?" Zaytsev demanded, her voice tight. "Why surface after all this time?"

Levi’s lips pulled thin. "Because I was forced into hiding. I was offered a massive bribe to destroy evidence and forge reports. When I refused, they tried to slit my throat."

He pulled down his collar. A horrific, jagged scar stretched across his windpipe.

Hatred flared in my chest. I shot a glance at the Queen, getting a flash of dark satisfaction when I saw the fury crack through her composure.

Zaytsev had no questions for Levi. That should have felt like a win. It didn’t. Her shoulders were tight. She was going to sit this one out and wait for a cleaner target.

As Levi stepped off the witness stand, I caught his eye and silently mouthed a thank you. But the oddest thing happened.

Levi’s eyes flashed a startling, venomous feline green. A shiver ran down my spine, feeling like phantom talons scraping my bare skin.

He winked. An infuriatingly familiar voice echoed directly inside my head. "You owe me. Again."

My breath hitched. Gruer.

My whole body went taut. That wasn’t Levi. It had never been Levi. I stared in utter disbelief, wondering if anyone else caught the shadow of the swishing tail following him, even if the body he was wearing currently didn’t have a tail.

Gods. If he could take the shape of a cat, could he take the shape of a person too?

And more importantly, where was the real Levi?

"I call Bruno Kerr to the stand," Alden announced, his voice snapping me back to reality.

The doors opened, and my blood ran cold.

It was the rogue from the Ridge. I’d never forget that face.

Guards escorted him down the aisle, his body wrapped in heavy iron chains.

"How..." My voice trailed off as the hakl erupted into hushed chaos. I turned to my mates, my heart hammering with hope against my ribs. "How did you find him? How is he here?"

If he testified, if he told the truth, I wouldn’t die today. I could--would be proven innocent.

Quinlan’s mouth curved into a dark, smug smirk. "Have a little faith in us, cherie."

Across the hall, Tessa looked like she was about to vomit. The Queen sat forward, and though her expression gave away nothing, there was something other than anger in her eyes.

It was amusement. It rubbed me the wrong way, especially when she propped her chin on her fist casually, like she was about to witness something interesting occur.

A cold dread settled in my stomach. Something was wrong.

"What is this?" Councilman Derek snapped, shuffling through his documents.

The head sentry bowed. "He turned himself in an hour ago. He confessed to the abetted murder of Lyon Park, and the kidnapping and attempted murder of Maisie Adams."

Zaytsev surged to her feet. "This is a setup--"

"Sit!" Derek ordered. He raised a brow, eyeing the paper. "This witness was added to the defense roster two days ago." His eyes flicked straight to my mates. I thought he was looking at Quinlan in particular. "How did you know he would turn himself in today? If this is an attempt to mislead the court, you will be punished accordingly."

None of them answered. They just stared back at the Councilman, their gazes flashing with such lethal promise that Derek looked away first.

The rogue had a stomp, which was a new development since the last I saw him. He was sweating profusely and he kept jerking, kept looking over his shoulder like he half expected someone to stab him through the back.

"Mr. Kerr--"

"There’s no time!" the rogue stammered, his eyes wild with terror. He threw a frantic glance behind me, locking onto Quinlan. "You promised!"

What? What did that mean--

He whirled back to the Council, talking at breakneck speed. "The girl didn’t do it! We were hired to abduct and kill her! We drugged her, took her to the mountain--the boy--he showed up out of fucking nowhere and screwed everything up--"

"We?" Councilman Derek asked. "Who hired--"

"Who the fuck else--"

It came through the high arched window.

It was so silent, we didn’t catch it, until it was too late.

A steel-tipped arrow as fast as my hand slammed into the rogue’s neck with terrifying force.

The impact tore his head clean off his shoulders.

I didn’t even have time to scream before his severed head went airborne, spinning through the air, and slammed directly onto the center of our defense table with a sickening, wet thud.

Blood spattered across the wood. Then the screaming began.