Chapter 51 Judgment #2
“Well, not anymore.” I licked my dry lips. What I wouldn’t give for a glass of water. “After the guys showed up in my house, the page turned blank except for some of my blood dried on the page.”
Cyn’s father’s lip curled in the same way his son’s lip did when he’d heard something he didn’t like. “Convenient. You expect us to believe the ritual you used disappeared without your influence? Do you think us fools?”
“No, sir.” I swallowed. “I’m only being honest. I don’t know what happened.”
“I want to know who gave you this book,” Cornaith said. “Where did it come from?”
Zeke’s parents nodded in agreement.
“A bookstore in the mall I work at.”
“You expect us to believe you bought a royal tome like it was a cookbook?” Cyn’s father stepped forward, hand raised.
I shrank back until I bumped the guard’s leg. He shoved me forward, and I fell to my hands, scraping them against the rough ground.
“Ardvaen, please,” Cyn’s mother said, grasping his arm again. “Let the girl speak.”
He bared his teeth at me and stepped back beside her. At least someone didn’t want to kill me outright.
Cornaith studied me, stroking his black goatee. “Who is your accomplice? Even with the suppression wards on you, I feel no trace of a magical signature. Someone else must be behind this.”
“I don’t have an accomplice. I already told the ones who brought me here that I went to the bookstore and the woman there gave me the book. I didn’t even pay for it.”
I almost looked at the triplets near the guys, but stopped myself. My scraped hands burned, and I didn’t want the guard hurting me again for looking their way.
“Are you saying you stole the tome?”
The gasps from the “audience” reminded me this farce of a trial was being broadcast to an entire world.
This wasn’t a trial. It was a performance—a display of power and humiliation. I’d known it the moment Ranthus told me my fate was sealed.
Still, I played my part, hoping something I said might shift their perception.
I looked at Zeke’s mother. “No. I just said the woman who works there gave it to me. As in, for free.”
Her nose wrinkled in disdain. “You have quite an attitude considering your position.”
No, you have a listening problem.
I gritted my teeth and stayed silent. I didn’t need more of their condemnation.
Being around the guys made it easier to relax and feel confident enough to express myself. They didn’t punish me for speaking up.
I’d gotten too comfortable.
At work, I walked a fine line between restraint and advocating for myself and my coworkers. With my extended family, I couldn’t stand up for myself at all. The people in front of me reminded me of that.
Zeke’s father’s voice pulled me out of that dark spiral. “What did this woman say to you when she gave you the book?”
“Something about spinning a wheel—my heart and soul’s needs and desires. A lot of stuff I didn’t understand. Some of it was in the ritual. I didn’t know it meant anything real.” My voice broke. “I didn’t mean to do anything wrong.”
“Lymsrana, wait,” Ardvaen said as Cyn’s mother—Lymsrana—pulled away and approached me, blocking my view of the council.
She reached down and cupped my cheek, tilting my head to look up at her.
Her amber eyes softened as she took in my face.
She was beautiful—skin pale and smooth, with the faintest blush on her cheekbones. Her thick black hair poured over her shoulders and down her back in gentle waves.
When she noticed the cameraman shift to capture her face, her expression hardened, and my brows drew together.
She seemed different from Zeke’s parents, Cornaith, and her husband. But right now, she resembled them with her stern expression.
I wondered what had changed.
“Stand down,” she said, her soft voice now commanding.
The cameraman retreated, panning his camera to the rest of the council.
She crouched, her robes spreading around her, her expression softening again. “Why did you do it?”
“It wasn’t on purpose,” I whispered, looking down.
I was exhausted after their interrogation and days of Ranthus’ questions, and I’d grown sicker than I’d ever been in my life.
“You took my boy from his home. The others too. We couldn’t find them. There must be a reason,” she said, her hand slipping from my cheek to rest on her knees.
“The Nyrith,” I said under my breath.
It was the only defense left to me. The only constant in everything Shane, the guys, and the book had said.
“The Nyrith?”
She kept her voice low. I couldn’t tell if she was hiding it from the cameras or the council, but I followed her lead.
“I’m their Nyrith.”
The skin between her manicured brows furrowed. “Which one? You’re human.”
“All of them. At least, that’s what someone told us.”
Her glossy lips parted, but no words came.
I knew she didn’t believe me. How could she, when even the guys weren’t sure? It defied whatever biological law tied pairings to the Shyrlivi. And there were four of them and only one of me.
The only reason I didn’t write it off was because I could sense their emotions and how their unique scents shifted with every change.
But was that the magic that manipulated us all?
“The ritual even used the word. I didn’t know what it meant until they told me,” I said, wondering if the ritual wasn’t just a spell to bring them to Earth, but something to link us together and trick all of us.
I chanced a peek at the guys.
Ash stood so still he resembled a statue.
Only his eyes betrayed the turmoil underneath.
Zeke’s hands were clenched so tightly I wondered if it hurt.
Ezra gave nothing away, embodying the detached, emotionless leader perfectly.
After meeting his father, I understood why.
And Cyn… he looked between his mother and me with an expression I didn’t understand.
The only thing I knew for certain, without even looking, was that they were unhappy. The negativity seeped into my bones. Whether it was it displeasure at being here, hurt that I betrayed them, or something more… I couldn’t tell. I only knew they all felt it.
No matter why I’d been given this ability, I hated the thought of their unhappiness. Even if I didn’t get along with all of them, I wanted them happy and safe. That was why I’d wanted to help them get home.
They deserved to be comfortable. Safe. Happy.
With that in mind, I looked back at Lymsrana with tears in my eyes.
“I’d never hurt them.”
Her bright eyes, rimmed in black makeup, widened. She covered her mouth, stood, and retreated to Ardvaen’s side, shaking her head.
I didn’t know what she saw that made her respond that way.
Cornaith stepped forward and motioned to the guards. They hauled me up by my arms until I stood.
I blew a few strands of hair out of my face so I could see better.
“We will discover your accomplice whether you tell us now, or we extract your secrets from your mind after your death. Either way, they will pay—just as you will today—for violating the royal families.”
Cornaith turned to the camera.
“Our people need to know we will protect them. If we allow leniency to a criminal who stole their beloved heirs from their home world, our citizens will lose faith in our leadership. We can’t have that. Their trust is paramount.”
Zeke’s parents nodded, and Ardvaen squeezed Lymsrana’s hand as she clung to his arm. Ezra’s mother remained silent behind her husband. She hadn’t moved once, and I wondered if she was unwell.
“Today we will show our people that we take every necessary measure to ensure the future of Elyrdin remains safe.” He motioned to the guards.
“Take her to the altar. We will be done with this and get our answers. I have nothing more to say to the human, and I will not risk further corruption from her illusions.”
The council members turned, following Cornaith.
Only when they moved to the sides did I notice what waited for me in the center of the clearing.
A massive black stone slab mounted on an ornate pillar dominated the clearing’s center. Colorful gemstones glittered its edge. Chains anchored at the head and foot spilled to the ground, coiling beside the pillar. Shackles waited on its surface.
I jerked in their hold.
Once they put me on that slab, I knew I wouldn’t get out of Cholian alive.
Their grip tightened as I twisted, my panicked gaze darting to the guys. “Please don’t do this! I didn’t trick you!”
Zeke stepped forward, but Cyn grabbed his arm and pulled him back, whispering something that drained the color from his face. When Zeke looked at Cornaith, the anguish on his face told me he couldn’t help me—not if he wanted to survive Cornaith’s wrath.
I looked at Ash and opened my mouth to speak when I saw him trembling, locked in a soldier’s stance, but no sound came out.
They’d bound my vocal cords with magic again.
“Enough with the dramatics,” Zeke’s father said. “Restrain her.”
I kicked, thrashed, and fought to break free, but a human’s strength didn’t match a Shyrlivi’s—transformed or not.
When they shackled me to the table, I stared at the thick clouds, tears warming my temples as they slid into my hair.
One thing made this situation easier to digest… The guys were free.
I’d never been free.
I lived as a prisoner of my mind, convinced I was going insane like Mom and Grandma.
Even knowing the truth, I still felt like a prisoner of circumstance.
My aunt and uncle’s control over Grandma kept me bound to their rules just to see her.
I couldn’t remember a time I felt free to be myself without fear of what lurked in the shadows.
At least I wouldn’t need to fight anymore.