The reborn lycan heiress

The Trial

Ariana’s POV

I took a shaky breath. “No, that is not the case,” I said, and my voice shook. “I didn’t betray anyone. I swear, I would never—”

One of the council elders broke in, his voice level. “You had access. You possessed channels, information, means. And still, conspiracies of the groups were discovered in the territories right after the assault. How do you explain that?””

I opened my mouth, but had no words. What was I supposed to say that was not so? My head was racing through any suggestion. Could it be a frame? Was the evidence planted by somebody? All my instincts had screamed yes, and however I sought to explain it to myself, cold facts were gazing up at me. Messages with my name on them. Meeting I had never been to. Time logs that exactly kept up with my schedule.

I swallowed hard. I said at last, “somebody is framing me. One would like to insinuate that I betrayed the territories, when in reality it is not me. I didn’t do this! Father! Say something!” I screamed at my dad hoping he says something but he just turned his face to the other side.

“W-what?” I mumbled in utter disbelief.

The council looked at each other, not the glance of doubt, but just the look of suspicion, the glance that was deliberate, almost practised. One of the old men bent forward, and twisted his fingers. “We do not set aside the possibility, Miss Blackwood, without serious consideration, but the evidence is very strong. The messages were corroborated to be through your channels. Your surveillance records put you at the locations of the rogue meetings.”

I shook my head violently. “That’s impossible! I was not even close to such meetings! Lucas--you have seen the records with your own eyes! You know this isn’t me!”

The head of Lucas was raised a little, and in a moment I believed I perceived some hesitation in his eyes. The moment of doubt provided me with a ray of hope. Perhaps he would speak, perhaps he would put in an end to this lunacy.

However, the hope was soon put out.

Lucas approached me , his voice calm and accurate, and said, “I talked to her about messages that I found on her communication channel. I inquired of her point-blank, and she rejected it all. She claimed innocence. I would have believed her, I would have done so very much, but the facts left no mistaking.”

My heart beat was aching my ribs. “What?” I whispered. “I never—Lucas! I did not refuse anything to you! I would not lie to you about such a thing!

He didn’t look at me. He didn’t flinch. He simply said just what he had told the council.

“It is not true,” I denied it.

Lucas said again. “But the facts don’t lie.”

I could feel my chest go tight and tears were on the point of bursting out. I couldn’t breathe properly. I would have walked to him, and grabbed him, and screamed, and made him become the man I had known--the man who could never have betrayed me. But his eyes were empty. Distant. Not a trace of the warmth that had been there was there.

“I am pleading with you,” I said to him, pray tell them the truth. Please.”

His expression failed him a heartbeat. Something tender and animal fluttered over his face. But I had not time to hope, and it disappeared. The aspects of Lucas became hard again, and he withdrew a little and left the council to the lead.

I drew in on my heels a little, my head spinning. The room was smaller, stifling. The traces which ought to have been my safety, the confidence I had put in Lucas, the name in which I was born--all of it was decaying.

King Adrian Ravencrest at last spike. The room appeared to stand still, as he spoke, with a quiet authority which commanded to be obeyed.

“The greatest crime a Lycan can do is treason against the territories,” he said. His eyes locked onto me. “Particularly when it is of one of your social rank, Ariana Blackwood. Power is responsibility and betrayal is unacceptable at any rate.”

I attempted speech, protest, explaining, but the words were empty. My own mind even doubted how I should be able to prove anything. The council had carefully collected their case. All the messages, all the motions, all the details, appeared indisputable. Even I could no longer think that I had somehow been manipulated, when I knew that it was not the case.

The council talked with one another. I felt the judgment of them bearing on me. I had always heard the Blackwood name was an expectation but this, this was more than I could have dreamed of.

Finally, the vote began. The members of the council threw their vote out with cold finality. I counted to myself, and my stomach turned. Vote, vote, vote... every vote was a dagger, gouging deeper.

The older turned about and looked at me when the final vote was cast. His face was impassive. “The verdict is unanimous. Ariana Blackwood, you are guilty of treason against the Lycan territories.”

I wanted to scream. I would have preferred to fall on the ground and plead with them to change their mind. However, I had hardly time to digest it before Adrian Ravencrest came forward.

His head was raised a little, and his eyes were sharp and imperious. “Death,” he said deliberately, slowly. Every word was heavy enough to hurt my knees. “And as Lycan King… I will do the execution myself. Take her to the dungeon.”