Chapter 113

Violet

Mating Affirmation Ceremony Record

Parties Involved: Lucas Reed & Nora Sinclair of Twining River

Result: Confirmed Mate Pair

It was certified by the temple, glowing with the magic of the seals on it, signed by the High Priest, and dated almost two years before we married, a year before we had even started dating.

Months before we'd met and just before he'd started showing up at the Academy. It felt like the world was swirling around me. I could hear my father's voice, my own, echoing and trembling through miles of water and fog. I felt hollowed out. Scraped raw. The realization echoed in my ears, both too real and… expected, like part of me had always known.

Why hadn't I been suspicious when we had that the private ceremony without a priest? Why had I gone along with it?

Had I?

My stomach turned at the thought, but as I couldn't feel my face. I could barely feel the paper under my hand. I turned my head to find Theodore watching me from the seats right behind me. His gaze searching. A wave of compassion, of concern and love, soothing and warm rushed through me. There was a question in his eyes.

Are you okay?

I smiled then. All of a sudden, I could feel my fingers, my face, my whole being again. I winked at him and blew him a kiss. A pleased, charmed smile took over his face. His mind brushed up against mine.

Thank you.

He nodded and winked back at me. Wife.

My eyes stung. I closed them to keep the tears at bay.

Husband.

I turned back feeling the rush of emotions start to settle and ease. He'd done this. While I had been focusing on Lucas’s legal attack, Theodore had been working behind the scenes, digging through every possible avenue to make sure Plan B would go through. And he’d found this.

That meant that Theodore had more of a hand in formulating Plan B than I thought. I had asked not to be given the details, though my lawyers had made it clear that I would need to be strong, that they didn't want to go through with it, but they would do it even if it bruised my pride a little.

I didn't feel that it did.

There was no shame in being the person manipulated and lied to.

Though… I had to wonder how my father had gone along with all of this without saying a word. Had it been the desperation? That didn't seem to fit with what I knew of my father.

I heard his voice again.

Do as I command!

I went still. My blood went cold. When I looked up, I saw him the way he had been at the end, but… furious. No. Not fury. He was looming over me. His eyes glaring down at me. The token around his neck glowing like a beacon. His eyes full of wolf light. His gaze was hard and adamant.

But there was something about the way he spoke. The movement of his lips in the hallucination. Melodic. Smooth. Enchanting.

A spell?

My father had cast a spell on me? He had magic? I didn't remember that, yet there was no way I'd conjure this up.

This was a memory. But how? Why? His sickness made no sense if he had magic.

I pushed at the edges of it, trying to listen to what he was saying. If I could get enough of the spell, I could figure out what it was, but I heard nothing. He faded before I could make out more than a word: render.

The vision faded just in time for me to see the blood drain from Lucas's face as my lead lawyer placed a copy in front of him, glowing just like mine was.

"Would you care to explain this, Alpha Lucas?" my attorney asked, his tone deceptively mild. "Because it seems to me that, before you ever met my client, you already had a mate."

A stunned murmur rippled through the courtroom.

Owen sat forward in his seat, eyes flashing with barely contained fury.

"This session is in recess."

His voice rang through the chamber, but he wasn’t looking at us anymore. His gaze was locked on the document, the official temple seal glowing bright and irrefutable against the parchment.

He had no choice but to retreat. Because no matter how much he wanted to dismiss it, no matter how much he wanted to hand Lucas an easy win, this was different.

This had been signed and sealed by the High Priest himself, which meant that Owen was going to have to call the High Priest here anyway.

I blinked, impressed and amazed as my lead lawyer came back to the table.

"You deserve a raise," I said.

He flashed me a wicked grin. "I promise Alpha Nightshade pays us well, Luna."

Owen

The court emptied as I left the room and stomped back into my private chambers, pacing. Furious. My hands clenched as the judge I had expected to help me put pressure on Theodore and Violet come in.

"Well?" I hissed. "This has to go away."

He took a deep breath and sank into a seat.

"Even with your authority as alpha king, you can't outright dismiss it," the judge said, adjusting his glasses as he flipped through the documents. He tutted. "The temple records are sealed by divine law. If you attempt to claim improper discovery procedures, it will contradict your earlier ruling about Violet’s contract as this particular document is real and actually a personal record that Lucas should have turned over to his defense. It would be... hypocritical, to say the least, and no judge, even if they hate Nightshade, would be able to support you. Our oaths of office are bound up in that same law."

I scowled. Damn them. I had been so certain that this trial would be much easier. I shouldn't have underestimated a woman like Violet. She really would have been better off born a man. Never mind Theodore and his fucking legal team. I had been looking forward to watching that bitch crumble as her whole case fell apart. Relishing the moment she would have to come to me on her knees with her pride on a silver platter. She would have begged marry me to save Darkmoon from Lucas. Her poised and indifferent posture hadn't shaken at all. She should have been furious. She should have been desperate. Instead, she had looked at me with that same unreadable calm, as if I and Lucas and the whole case were nothing more than an inconvenience. It had been irritating, but this had to be why. She had to have known all along that she would win.

My fingers curled into fists.

That smug bitch was going to end up on her knees before me one way or another.

The memory of her looking at Theodore, winking and blowing a kiss at him made my blood boil.

I exhaled sharply, dragging a hand down my face as I forced himself to think. Fine. I couldn't overturn the temple records without making myself look like a fool.

I had no choice but to eat my words about the High Priest coming to court. There was a very real possibility that things would spiral further out of my control. Leveraging Darkmoon seemed more and more impossible. I needed another way to get to Violet, to knock Theodore down several pegs, to sercure my position.

My mind worked quickly, running through the variables, the weaknesses could still exploit. The court case had been my main play, but that didn’t mean it had to be his only. I just needed to shift my focus.

But to where? I was no closer to figuring out how to unveil Theodore's magic in a public enough way to get him shipped to the temple by law.

The, as if the Goddess truly smiled upon the alpha king and his ever endeavor, my phone buzzed on the desk.

I glanced at the screen, and slowly, my frustration eased. I picked up the call, pressing it to my ear as a smirk tugged at the corner of my lips.

"Tell me," I said smoothly, lowering himself into his chair. "Is it done?"

"Yes."

I smirked. "How long do you need to get here?"

"I can be there within the hour."

"Good," I murmured, leaning back, satisfaction curling in his chest. "Then let’s make sure everything goes exactly as planned."

Then, I hung up and looked across the room at the judge. He chuckled.

His lips twitched. "She has a hell of a lawyer, but he really could have done better with the falsified evidence."

I smirked. "No one wants an intelligent pawn. How long will it take for the High Priest to arrive?"

"Maybe twenty minutes."

"How long do you think I can stretch this before having to rule in her favor?"