“Can we assume, then, you were the one who bound him?” Aloisia asked. “What other reason do you have for not speaking those words?”
Lusana spun to face Magistrate Vester, her amber eyes wide and wild. “Asmund, be reasonable. There is so much none of you know, so much at work here. I cannot speak those words.”
“Why?” Ezra bellowed. “Tell the truth of it, then.”
“Asmund, please,” Lusana begged. “I cannot speak those words. But you must believe me. I did not summon those creatures.”
Asmund’s face became solemn. “That is a difficult thing to believe, Lusana.”
“It is, indeed, suspect,” Silas said, “for you not to speak those words.”
Murmurings of agreement rippled through the volunteers gathered within the Temple grounds.
“Why can’t she say it?” one of the townsfolk shouted.
“Unless she is the guilty one!” another chimed in.
“She’s the one behind this!”
Lusana shook her head. “You don’t understand!”
“Then tell us,” Asmund said. “Before it is too late.”
“I cannot. The truth cannot pass my lips, neither can I speak those words releasing him.”
“You understand how this looks, Modäiti?”
Lusana glanced around her, searching for someone, anyone, who would take her side. Instead, she was met with the glares of those who believed her guilty.
“You don’t know what you do,” she breathed, her voice barely above a whisper.
“There is little option here,” Ezra said. “You speak the truth, you speak the words which could release me, or you hang for the crimes of murder and witchcraft. Though it matters not which you choose. All have the same result.”
Lusana backed away, her arms wrapping around herself as if she could shrink away from it all.
Aloisia frowned. “Which is?”
“Her guilt, no?” Ezra raised a brow.
“Are you confirming it, then?”
“I cannot outright do so.”
“She needs to be held accountable!” one of the townsfolk called.
“Hang her!” another shouted.
“She is responsible for the deaths of so many!”
“How many have we lost, that we cannot set to rest? Because of her!”
Magistrate Vester held a palm up, silencing those gathered. “Lusana, I will give you one last chance to absolve yourself. Otherwise, you will force my hand to take action.”
“Asmund, please…”
“For your own sake, if nothing else, speak the words.”
Lusana paused for a long moment, her eyes flitting between those gathered. “I cannot.”
