Chapter 30 Elsie
Elsie
It took only two weeks for the case against Aster to resume, and the public was more than ready. Not only had the news outlets been reporting relentlessly, making bold assumptions and leaving more questions than answers, but social media had been obsessed with the case.
The two weeks of reprieve had been wonderful for Lukas and me.
While he continued to work for Ed, we spent every other moment together.
I’d essentially moved into his flat with him, and we spent our nights cooking together, enjoying time with friends, or just enjoying each other’s company.
Lukas made it a point every single day to show he loved me, and I was on cloud nine.
I’d always wondered what this felt like, and whether it was even real.
“Checkmate.” Henri was exceedingly smug with her victory as she grinned at Lukas, who had lost yet another game of chess to her.
“I don’t know how, but I know you’re cheating.”
“Don’t be a poor sport,” Noah teased as he shared a humorous look with me.
“I think that’s the forty-seventh game you’ve lost to me,” Henri gloated, tapping a finger on her chin. “How many have you won, Lukas?”
I burst out laughing at her mockery, knowing full well the answer was zero.
“Hey! I almost won that—” Lukas’s phone rang out, and we all stopped, watching him pick up the phone. We’d been waiting for a particular call, and his face confirmed this was it.
Henri looked at me with a sympathetic smile on her delicate features. She stood up, game forgotten, and came to sit next to me on the couch. We all waited in silence as Lukas listened to whatever Ed was saying on the other side of the call.
“Thank you, I’ll see you Monday.”
“What did he say?” Henri said the second he hung up the phone, leaning forward. Lukas’s face showed no hint.
He looked at me, his blank expression slowly turning into a smile. “Your father accepted the plea deal.”
“What?” My voice was barely a whisper as the shock settled in. I was utterly dumbfounded that my father would ever take such a deal.
Lukas nodded. “His own case will be much shorter now since he agreed to go on the stand against Aster, and everything he says will incriminate him, but they will lessen his sentence since he agreed to be a witness.”
No one spoke; we all absorbed the information. But there was a look on Lukas’s face that hinted there was more to the story.
“What else?” Noah asked before I could form the thought.
“In questioning, it was clear he was under a blood oath.”
My eyes widened. Henri grabbed my hand, giving me a soft look.
“I’m assuming it was Aster?” I asked quietly.
“They are assuming it is Aster. The team is going to do a forcible oath-breaking, since Aster refused to speak about it. They will have to get the judge’s approval of the order, but Vane doesn’t think that will be hard at all. They’re already calling an Oathbreaker in.”
Silence fell over us once again, and I couldn’t help the tears in my eyes. Yes, this would be extremely beneficial to the case. I cared little for my father. Even so, it terrified me they would forcibly break a blood oath for my father.
Since the oath restricted him from revealing who it was, and since Aster wouldn’t agree or admit anything, we could only hope it truly was Aster.
The Oathbreaker would come and use ancient magic and potions to break the blood oath, with both Aster and my father present.
If the oath were indeed between them, it would be a mild spell and potentially be over in a matter of minutes.
But…if the oath were somehow not between Father and Aster…
it would be an extremely painful spell. The magic would tear the oath out of my father’s blood and extract it.
There weren’t many historical accounts of it, because it simply wasn’t done.
Only in the highest-profile cases in history had it been used, but I knew of only one case where the second party to the oath wasn’t known.
It hospitalized the first party of the oath for a week before the case could resume.
“Father agreed to that?”
Lukas nodded grimly.
“Who would it be aside from Aster?” Henri asked, her mind already calculating.
“The only other person I think it could be is whoever owns the second handwriting that was in Aster’s lab books,” Lukas muttered.
We all sat uncomfortably, considering the implications that there could still be someone out there working with Aster. I stared at Henri, trying to read her expression. She kept her face cool and didn’t let any emotion show. Noah, however, was nearly vibrating.
“You’re not going this week.” Noah’s voice was sharp as steel as he looked at his girlfriend.
Henri let out a strained laugh. “Yes, I am. Don’t be ridiculous, Noah.”
“Middleton hasn’t even confessed yet; he might not have even been the one who cursed you the first time!”
“That doesn’t mean I need to stay in a bubble and hide. I’m going to take the stand and tell my story.”
“And if you get cursed again?” Noah stood, his anger palpable in the air. By the look on Henri’s face, she was annoyed as hell with him for this display of protection, but I found it quite sweet.
Henri stood as well, going toe-to-toe with Noah. “I’ll be fine. I’m taking the stand.”
The two of them stared at each other with fire in their eyes, and I wasn’t sure if they were going to kiss or scream at each other.
Noah broke first, huffing as he walked away, shaking his head. Henri rolled her eyes in annoyance and sat back down at the table where she had been playing chess. Lukas’s gaze met mine, and he gave me a humoured look accompanied by a smirk. I held back my laughter as he and Henri began a rematch.
I was mistaken to believe I had already seen the full depth of Noah’s anger over Henri returning to the witness stand. While he'd been far more outspoken at Lukas’s house, now his silence carried the weight of his fury.
We sat next to each other in the front row of the gallery in the courtroom, along with Ivy and Remy.
Noah’s eyes flickered around the room, assessing threats and glaring his anger at anyone who was caught in its path.
Instead of shaking with fury, he was stone-still.
In the stillness, he emanated violence, ready to take anyone down at the snap of a finger.
His tension wasn’t isolated. Ivy and Remy were whispering in hushed tones about the case and their worry for Henri.
As the gallery filled up, just as it had the last time Henri took the stand, quiet, nervous energy filled the space.
There were only a few minutes left until the proceedings began, so both the defense and prosecution filed in.
My eyes landed on Lukas as soon as he stepped through the side door, and we shared a tense look.
Not a minute later, the door on the defense side opened, and in walked Aster, with who was presumably her new defense attorney.
The man was incredibly tall and had an arrogance that one developed over years of belittling others.
Harsh lines molded his face, and his eyes were made of molten steel.
Aster’s face had a green pallor as they took their seats.
The enforcement officer called for us to rise as the judge entered the courtroom, and the entire gallery rose. It was so utterly silent that you could hear a wand drop, and it had my heart racing. We all sat once instructed.
Of course, just like Noah, I was worried that something could happen to Henri.
Nothing had happened to the other two witnesses when they’d taken the stand the second time, but that didn’t relieve the stress I felt.
I knew my father could curse the witnesses single-handedly, but there was also too much I didn’t know.
It would have been easy for him to work with someone else, and until his blood oath was broken, we wouldn’t know.
My mind buzzed with concern as the judge reviewed the afternoon's schedule. I didn’t catch anything else he said, for Noah started clenching his fists. It drew my eyes away, and I looked at him. His jaw clenched, and he glared ahead, even when I patted his arm.
“Your Honor, the prosecution calls Henrietta Baker to the stand.”
I hadn’t thought silence could grow heavier, but it did.
All I could feel was the cold tension and mounting anticipation that gripped the entire room.
Guards escorted Henri to the stand, one on each side and one behind her.
Despite the circumstances, Henri walked with pride—her chin held high, a defiant expression on her face, and sure steps.
Noah stopped breathing as she walked into the box and swore in.
Once Henri settled into the chair in the box, it began.
“Please state your name for the record.” Alicia Vane stood a few feet away from Henri, hands at her side. Her back was to us, but I wondered if she, too, was checking Henri for any signs of distress.
“Henrietta Baker.”
“Ms. Baker, what is your current role at Forrestbriar Academy?”
“I am a fourth-year Mastery student, studying Policy.”
“How would you define your academic standing?” Vane took a step away from Henri, turning to the side. Her sharp features would be terrifying, except for the soft, nearly triumphant look on her face.
“I am among the top in my year, as I have always been.” Noah chuckled under his breath beside me. In my periphery, I could see his shoulders relax marginally. “Upon completing my Mastery, I will also be awarded a Mastery in Potions.”
“Have you taken Potions classes in your Mastery years?”
“Only elective ones. Potionry was always an interest of mine.”
“Have you had the defendant, Ms. Aster, as your professor?”
“No, I have not.”
“Let’s go back to the middle of your last semester, the day of the first love potion attack. What did you notice?” Vane paced to the other side of the courtroom, her voice bold.