The guard stopped beside me and handed me the small vial.
Reluctantly, I took it, my fingers shaking. I knew that whatever words tumbled from my mouth in the coming hour would be pulled from me as though Jax’s commanding Mistvale magic had taken hold.
For the briefest moment, I glanced at Jax behind me, my stomach tumbling, because if the judges asked me to reveal more than just King Paevin’s plan...if they asked me to tell them what else I’d had the semelees change, the truth potion magic would ensure that I revealed all.
Which would mean that Jax and all of our friends would be damned.
After I drankthe potion and the necessary time was allotted to have it in full effect, they placed me on a seat to the side of the judges, thankfully allowing me to sit down so I didn’t topple over right in front of them. The hard chair pressed into my back, hitting every bump in my spine, but I kept my back rigid.
Jax, Esopeel, Lillivel, and all of my Stonewild friends watched on, their expressions encouraging and their eyes sharp.
My magistrate stood astutely at her table, her no-nonsense persona clouding around her.
“Now, let us begin.” The Queen Justice turned in her seat to face me more. “State your full name.”
I parted my lips, my mouth still dry from the multiple potions I’d been forced to ingest, but my voice was clear when I replied, “Elowen Emerson of Faewood Kingdom.”
“Your age?”
“Twenty-eight summers.”
“Your magic?”
“I’m a lorafin.”
The Queen Justice canted her head. “And how many times in your life have you commanded the fates?”
The truth potion’s magic coursed through me, responding for me before I even knew what I was going to say. “Once.”
“And when was that?”
My brow furrowed, and the magic pulled at me, seeking an answer. Yet, I didn’t know. “I apologize, Queen Justice, but I’ve lost track of time. I’m unsure of the exact day that I twisted fate, but it was sometime in the previous month.”
Her lips pursed. “Andwhydid you command the fates?”
Panic engulfed me, but my mouth opened, the words bubbling up from inside me as though pulled of their own accord, but just as I was about to speak, an arrow of magic struck me.
Commanding Mistvale magic spiraled down my throat, entwining with the truth potion’s serum. The magic was so precisely aimed, so perfectly concealed, that nobody in the courtroom blinked. Everyone was entirely unaware of it.
My eyes widened, my foggy mind barely understanding what was happening, but the second I did, my breaths quickened.
Jax sat quietly in the courtroom, his expression masked, his demeanor non-threatening, yet he was wielding his magic so subtly, soprecisely, that nobody was any the wiser.
His magic wrestled with the truth potion as the truth potion struggled to erupt the words from me.
“I commanded the fates to—” I licked my lips, the truth of wanting to save the Dark Raider trying to break free of me, but Jax’s magic continued to subdue the potion. My gaze darted around, but other than the Queen Justice and the judges waiting with expectantly raised eyebrows, nobody was acting unsettled.
Jax’s magic heightened. Just a touch more of it entered my system, and the words spilled out of me. “I commanded the fates to stop King Paevin. I commanded them to stop him from marching on the kingdoms and destroying our continent as we know it.” I gasped, my head now pounding from the effects of the truth serum warring against Jax’s potent magic.
The Queen Justice arched an eyebrow. “Is that the only reason?”
My lips parted, the truth again desperately trying to break free, but Jax’s magic engulfed it once more. “Yes.”
She leaned back, her brow furrowing. “I see. And why didn’t you go to the kingsfae to report what you found? Why did you take matters into your own hands?”
“There wasn’t time,” I replied readily, and that was close enough to the truth that not even Jax’s magic or the potion were needed to supply my answer. “Half-breeds were being bred against their will. Several females were already pregnant, and other children had already been born. The longer King Paevin’s plan was continued, the more innocent half-breeds would be targeted. I felt that I needed to act immediately to stop his heinous crimes.”
The Queen Justice and the judges shared another veiled look, and several fae watching my trial began talking.
