By the Morning Light_Smoke and Mirrors by Melissa Giorgio

Author:Melissa Giorgio [Giorgio, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-09-12T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Michel dragged a chair to the center of the room and all but threw Aeonia into it. After Nicolas and Paul bound her wrists and ankles with rope, Michel stood in front her, standing tall with his shoulders thrown back. “Aeonia, you are accused of being a witch. What do you have to say to that?”

Slumped over in the chair, she didn’t even bother to raise her head as she stared at the ground, her face blank. What’s wrong with her? I thought. Where was the fire that burned within her? Why wasn’t she saying anything? Doing anything?

My stomach flipped nervously. Did she think it was pointless to defend herself? Did she truly believe Michel would kill her tonight and there was nothing she could do about it?

“All right, no answer.” Michel nodded. “She’s guilty.” His hands went to the sword hanging at his side.

“Wait.” Everyone looked at Emile. He swallowed hard as sweat shone on his forehead. “Don’t Claudette and I get to speak?”

Michel’s grip on his sword tightened. “If you want to provide more information regarding Aeonia’s guilt, then by all means, go ahead.” A vein began throbbing on the side of his face. “But if you want to stand there and defend her again… Do not test my patience, Emile.”

My brother paled, but he refused to back down. “I thought this was going to be a trial. I thought we were going to do this the right way!”

“You can’t kill her,” I said, my voice shaking. A couple of the other boys snickered at my weakness and I glared at them. “You can’t. Even the Knights didn’t do that, Michel. They exiled them.”

“Exactly.” Michel smirked and I wondered if I’d said something wrong. “They exiled citizens of Ayres, which Aeonia is not. Therefore, there’s nothing stopping me from killing her. I’m glad we’re in agreement.”

My eyes grew wide. “That’s not what I meant—”

“Claudette.” He let go of his sword to approach me, seizing me by the arms once more. Emile jerked forward, but Paul put a hand on his shoulder, holding him in place. “Look at what she did to you,” Michel said, running a finger up and down one of my arms. I tried to pull away, but his grip only tightened. “And you said she didn’t even mean to. Imagine what she’d be capable of if she did mean it.” His hands wrapped around my wrist, squeezing. I refused to cry out and instead met his green-eyed gaze with a fierce glare of my own. “We can’t let a person like this back out into the world. She’ll end up destroying it.”

“She won’t.” My voice, no longer shaking, rang with confidence. What did Michel know? He’d barely spent any time with Aeonia. I was the one who’d been with her day after day, week after week, trading secrets and stories and becoming close friends. I was the one she entrusted her biggest secret to.

And if I didn’t do anything to stop Michel, I would be the one who failed her the most.

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