Chapter 35
Lukas
As Aster walked to the stand, the memory of her screams haunted me.
In fact, the sound had raged around my brain for the last four days, chilling me.
The courtroom gallery was packed to capacity with a nervous, excited tension in the air.
We would find out who she worked with today.
The second handwriting that had worried me for weeks would finally be revealed.
Elsie and I spent the last four days mostly curled up in bed together, because it was what both of us needed. This had been a lot for her, and I realized it had been a lot for me too. So, aside from the hours I spent in the office, we stayed home and either ordered takeout or cooked together.
It had given me enough rest to come into this courtroom once again and prepare for Aster’s questioning today.
After the oath-breaking was complete, Aster only spent two nights in the hospital to recover. Ed informed me that Calvin reported she’d done better than he’d expected.
She looked normal. There was no pain written across her features, and, surprisingly, there was no fear. The last time she’d taken the stand, there had been a certain level of worry and fear in her eyes that was gone. Today, she looked almost smug as she swore in.
“By order of the court, you will be required to take a truth potion this session, Ms. Aster.” Alicia motioned for one of the court officials to bring in the truth potion.
“I promise you won’t even need that today. I have no issue telling everything now.” Aster reached out and took the potion, quickly downing the whole vial before handing it back.
Alicia Vane turned away and walked back toward our table, and I finally saw a bit of exhaustion in her eyes. She was tired of this, and I could only assume watching Aster’s oath be broken had worn her down, too.
After a few minutes of allowing the potion to take effect, Vane pivoted back to look at Aster.
“Please state your name for the court.”
Straightening her shoulders, she answered, “Mira Aster.”
“Ms. Aster. During the spring semester at Forrestbriar Academy, there were multiple love potion attacks from spell-casting a love potion. Did you brew the potions?”
“I brewed the first few. Then I had Ivy Weatherford brew the rest after that.”
“Did you spell-cast the potions, or is that also something you had Ms. Weatherford do as well?”
“I did the first few spell-casts as well. But then Ivy took over to prevent heads from turning to me.”
“Were you aware of the repercussions of casting a love potion on an entire campus?”
“Yes,” Aster answered without missing a beat.
“So you knew that sexual harassment and assault could occur because of the potion affecting victims’ decision-making processes?”
Aster swallowed and met Vane’s eyes. “Yes.”
“Did you also create and brew the Love Poison that was released to the campus as well?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Ms. Aster, were you aware that this poison could have killed many on campus?”
I clenched my fists, remembering the feeling of that poison and the fear across campus when it was released.
That day, I had felt the instant the poison took over, and I ran to find this girl Stella, who was in my class.
I barely knew her, but she was beautiful, and the poison amplified that.
My heart had been beating so fast I was sure I was going to die.
Before I found Stella, relief washed over me so quickly, and I didn’t know why until Noah later explained he’d made the antidote.
“Yes,” Aster answered again. I felt more relieved today that Aster was admitting to her crimes. But the anticipation of wondering who her accomplice was had me jittery.
“Henrietta Baker testified you locked her in a closet and magically subdued her, nearly killing her with the love poison. Is that true?”
“Yes.” Aster’s eyes cut away from Vane and landed on where Henri sat only a few feet behind me. I didn’t have to look back to know that Noah was full of anger already.
“So you have confessed to all the crimes that we have charged you with.” Alicia turned to look at the judge. “Another witness, William Middleton, confessed on this stand under the influence of the truth potion that you bribed him to delay the case. Is that true?”
“Yes. I needed the case delayed so I could end my blood oath. I refuse to go down for these crimes alone.” Aster’s anger was apparent in her voice as she leaned forward to look at Alicia.
“Your Honor, may the court see exhibit B?”
The same pages of the lab notebooks that included both Aster’s handwriting and the second handwriting projected around the courtroom.
“Ms. Aster. The court has identified the first handwriting as yours based on documents submitted by you as evidence from the academy. The second handwriting suggests that you had help in coming up with this plan against the academy. Is that true?”
“Yes, I worked with someone else.” Aster leaned back against her chair, a smile forming on her face. The oath that she was bound to was gone, no longer protecting whomever she colluded with. She was free to share the blame with someone else rather than face the consequences of this ordeal alone.
“Did you collude with this other individual, or were you influenced to begin the love potion attacks because of them?”
The question threw me off, presenting an angle I hadn’t thought of.
Aster laughed cynically. “This was never my idea. I was convinced it was the best way to get my former boyfriend back—by proving that Robert still loved me with the love potion.”
“So this other individual convinced you to brew and cast love potions on the entire campus?”
“Yes.” There was no way Aster could lie. Her truth rattled me, knowing that it wasn’t even her idea. Someone else not only helped but also created the plan behind the attacks. The low collective gasp of the gallery mirrored my reaction.
“And this is the same individual who held you under blood oath?”
“Yes.”
“Ms. Aster, please reveal to the court who you worked with to attack Forrestbriar Academy, the individual who held you in secrecy under a blood oath.”
For the first time today, a look of fear crossed Aster’s face as she took a deep breath. “Dean Frederick Arnold.”
Silence.
Utter silence gripped the entire room at the admission.
My lungs tightened in my chest nearly to the point of pain, and I wondered if I would be able to breathe again.
The Dean of Forrestbriar Academy attacked his entire campus.
Chaos erupted in the courtroom as gallery members yelled out the impossibility of the accusation, and I turned back to look at my friends behind me.
All of them were stone still as they looked at Aster in horror.
Noah held Henri close to him, rage in his eyes.
Elsie looked scared, her eyes trained on the witness.
Ivy and Remy held each other. I wanted to reach out to Elsie to comfort her, but couldn’t until this session ended.
The judge banged his gavel, calling for order. Officials moved through the gallery, instructing people to sit down and remain silent or to leave. The questioning wasn’t over.
“Ms. Aster, were you aware of Mr. Arnold’s intent to attack the school with love potions when you took a blood oath with him?”
“No. He convinced me he could give me a solution to my relationship problems with Robert, but made me swear a blood oath of secrecy before we discussed plans.”
“Was your blood oath only binding to secrecy? Or was the oath also one that forced compliance with his plan?”
I bit my tongue as I waited for the answer. If the oath bound her to compliance like the oath she forced Ivy into, that would make Aster completely innocent of the love potion attacks.
“I…” Aster paused for the first time, fighting the truth potion. “It was only to secrecy.”
“So you were under oath to keep his involvement a secret, but you still carried out the plans and the attacks of your own free will?”
Aster fought the truth potion again, sweat forming on her forehead. “Yes, I did.”
I leaned back in my seat, unsettled and, frankly, scared. Scared for the future of the academy I loved so much, scared for fellow students, and scared for Elsie.
“Were the plans to attack the school solely your idea, or did Arnold encourage that plan?”
“They were his plans originally. I was only going to use the love potion on Robert, but he suggested potion-casting it so that it would make me less suspicious.”
I ground my teeth together and clenched my fists under the table.
Alicia took a few steps to the side, nodding her head.
The questioning ensued, and each question built the tension in the room.
I didn’t have to look back to know everyone in the gallery was processing all of these confessions the same way I was.
“We’re going to have to meet immediately after this at Vane’s office,” Ed whispered, and I nodded.
By the time the questions were over and Alicia addressed the judge and jury, the gallery was restless. Anxiety gripped my lungs as I considered Elsie amid a throng of chaotic people, fussing over the case and crowding the room.
I turned around and made eye contact with a stoic Noah. We held each other’s gaze before I made a pointed glance at Elsie and back to him. He nodded once, and I breathed a little easier. He would take care of her.