Chapter 41
Hanna
I’d imagined facing them again a thousand different ways.
Sometimes I dreamed of screaming at them and sometimes I imagined myself calm and unmoved.
But I never pictured this—standing before the High Circle Court, surrounded by ancient stone arches carved with runes older than recorded witchcraft, while my mother, father, and ex-fiancé were shackled by glowing restraint spells that prevented them from casting even a spark.
The courtroom wasn’t like human courtrooms. No judges behind benches, no lawyers and no pretense.
Just the Circle was present. Seven witches seated around a platform, their robes shimmering in silver and deep blue, the air humming with latent power.
The stone beneath my feet pulsed faintly with protective enchantments. Savla stood behind me—silent, steady, a wall of dark presence and unspoken strength. The coven flanked my sides, a sea of black robes and fierce expressions.
My mother looked bored, because of course she did.
She examined her nails as if awaiting a dinner reservation rather than magickal sentencing.
My father stood stiff beside her, face neutral, hands clasped behind his back as if this were a board meeting he intended to dominate with logic and contracts.
And Corwin… Corwin was shaking. Not visibly to most—but I saw it in the twitch of his jaw, the sheen of sweat at his temples. The bonds restraining him flickered with his panicked surges of magick.
Grand Mistress Rowan’s voice cut through the air like a blade. “Hanna Greyleaf. Step forward.”
My pulse skipped, but I did. Rowan’s eyes were sharp and kind all at once.
“You stand as the primary victim of the glamor binding, the abduction, and the attempted forced union. Are you prepared to give testimony?”
“Yes,” I said, my voice stronger than I felt.
My parents scoffed in unison and my mother flicked her hair back.
“Honestly. Glamor binding is hardly—”
“Silence.” Rowan didn’t raise her voice.
She didn’t need to. A shimmer of magic wrapped around my mother’s mouth, sealing it shut. I think I fell a little in love with Rowan right then.
Corwin lunged forward, snarling, “She ran away! She stole from us! She—”
Another flick of Rowan’s wrist. Corwin slammed to his knees, spell-light dragging him down like gravity multiplied by ten. Savla growled behind me—softly, but enough to raise the hairs on my arms.
Rowan turned her gaze back to me. “Speak, child.”
I spoke. And I told them everything. I told them about the years of emotional manipulation, the way my parents treated my worth like numbers on a ledger, the glamor cocoon and the kidnapping.
I even told them about the way Corwin mocked me for leaving him.
I showed them the bruises on my arms from their restraints.
And even more, I told them about the betrayal and the fear. Until finally I got to the rescue. I told them how I’d been saved by my coven and my clan. My real coven and clan. My family by choice, not by birth.
I didn’t need to tell them about my mating, because Savla stood behind me. My mate who didn’t believe in PDA had his arms around me.
Rowan listened without blinking, her magick vibrating faintly with each detail.
Some members of the Circle clenched their hands, others whispered spells for calm, but no one interrupted me.
When I finished, the silence in the room was thick and electric with tension and magick. Then Rowan turned to Corwin.
“Corwin Ashvale. You stand accused of binding magic without consent, abduction of a marked witch, attempted soul coercion, and violation of coven autonomy laws. Do you deny these charges?” she asked, her voice a whip in the echoing chamber.
Corwin bared his teeth. “Yes! I deny them all! She’s lying! She ran off with—” He jerked his head toward Savla. “—that beast. Her word is hardly—”
The entire Circle inhaled sharply.
Zara murmured, “Oh, he’s so dead.”
Rowan’s eyes glinted frost-cold. “Savla Everlock is a standing member of the Everlock Clan and protected under the United Clans Treaty. Speak of him again with such contempt, and you will be charged with interplanar discrimination.”
Corwin opened his mouth—and promptly gagged as magick sealed it shut. Rowan turned to my parents.
“Meris and Toland Greyleaf. You are accused of conspiring to bind your daughter, aiding and abetting kidnapping, coercion through inheritance manipulation, and intentional magickal endangerment.” Her voice lowered. “Do you deny these charges?”
My mother lifted one eyebrow, as if bored of the entire proceeding. She tried to speak—but the silence spell held. She glared as if she could intimidate the magick off her.
My father finally cleared his throat. “We were acting within our rights as parents to reclaim property—”
Savla let out a sound I had never heard before. A low, guttural, lethal snarl. Even the Circle flinched.
Rowan’s expression sharpened dangerously. “Your daughter,” she said, “is not property.”
Toland shrugged. “She is the heir to our business. We needed her back. We used standard containment spells.”
“Illegal spells,” another Circle witch snapped.
Meris rolled her eyes as if this were all terribly inconvenient. Rowan lifted her hand, and seven glowing runes hovered above the accused.
“Judgment is unanimous,” she said, her voice reverberating with power.
Corwin trembled visibly. Meris and Toland looked mildly annoyed. Rowan spoke with clear, echoing resonance.
“For crimes against a witch of recognized autonomy and against the peace of the coven and clan alliance, the sentencing is as follows—”
Everyone held their breath. “Corwin Ashvale. Your magic is suspended for one year. You are banished from all coven-protected lands and you will compensate the victim for her suffering, as determined by the Circle.”
Corwin let out a muffled scream as his magick imploded inward, leaving him drained, powerless—and terrified.
I didn’t feel joy. Instead, I felt relief. Raw, shaking relief.
Rowan turned to my parents next. They’d been bored before, but after hearing the ruling for Corwin, my mother’s eyes were huge in her face and my father’s lips were opening and closing as if he wanted to argue. But he knew better.
“Meris and Toland Greyleaf, your business license is revoked pending re-evaluation. You are stripped of authority over the Greyleaf inheritance assets. All holdings belonging to Hanna Greyleaf’s grandmother will be transferred to Hanna immediately and you are to have no contact with your daughter unless she initiates it. ”
Meris finally paled, Toland’s jaw dropped and the coven behind me gasped softly.
Zara whispered, “Holy shit, they deserve it.”
Tabitha murmured a satisfied, “As the Goddess Mother wills it.”
Rowan looked at me again. “Do you request additional protections?”
I swallowed hard. Savla’s presence pulsed behind me—steady and unshakeable.
“Yes,” I whispered. “Full severance.”
Rowan nodded.
“Granted.”
Magick vibrated through the hall as the Circle severed the parental tie-bond, cutting the last lingering magickal thread between me and the people who’d birthed me.
It felt like a weight falling off my chest. A weight I had carried my entire life.
Savla stepped closer, his fingertips brushing the small of my back—reassuring, grounding and careful.
Rowan looked at him with approval. “Your clan may take her home.”
Savla’s voice was deep and certain. “We will.”
My breath whooshed out of me. I was finally free.
And Corwin’s muffled scream in the background only confirmed what I already knew. I was never going back. Not to their house, not to their control and never to their cruelty.
My life was mine now. And as Savla’s hand found mine—warm, strong and certain—my future was too.