faeries. Is this his defense? Trying to show he's already in love with someone else–two somebody elses? He couldn't believe that would work. It would only be infatuation, faeries creating lust, not love. Everyone would see that.
Not that he looked in love. The crowd must have diluted the faeries' influence because he didn't have the same expression as he'd had at their cottage in the Tennessee woods. Instead, he looked composed and … calculating. As if he had something up his sleeve and simply waited for the right time to reveal it. Did Rina send him after the faeries? But why?
I followed Owen's gaze to the old woman who'd cared for Lilith, sitting not too far from Owen and the faeries. Her face was drawn tight, making her look older. I didn't remember her presence earlier and wondered why they'd brought her in. I could only figure that after Tristan's trial, they planned to question her about Lilith– their relationship, why she was raising her, what she might know about Lilith's mother. That thought made me physically cringe. Did I want to stay for that? I might learn something that would help me to believe Tristan … or I might not and instead subject myself to even more agony.
Nona, as Lilith had called her, was the only person sitting in the room, besides the council members and us. Everyone else stood, and as I finally looked at the crowd, I found a variety of expressions, but all of them full of passion. Their spirits animated with the desire to fight or to protect, with rage or with worry, with hate or with love. Some had pointy ears and extra facial hair, as if they were about to lose control over their human forms. Others' fangs showed, brought out by the anger and fear in the room.
'What about the Daemoni?' someone called out, the voice spiked with terror.
'Yeah! They're attacking right now and we're doing nothing. They'll win!' A voice agitated with the desire to fight.
'What about our children?'
'They have no future now,' a woman wailed. 'What will happen to them?'
'What about the unprotected humans? The innocents?' Owen yelled louder than anyone, and many shouts rallied with him.
I saw then what Mom must have seen years ago, what council members now realized. Owen could become a great leader. He might try to push things a little too far, as Rina had once pointed out, but that was a sign of courage. He never overreacted to anything, but was passionate about his beliefs. And as seen now, he could control a crowd, keep them focused on the right things. He was definitely strong and powerful enough. No wonder he was their next choice as the father of my daughter.
But I could never be with him, even after what Tristan had apparently done. It'd still have to be by in vitro …
Oh! Oh, my god.
That's it!
My breath caught as the obvious slammed into me twofold. Solomon's words echoed in my mind: The best stories–and the best lies–are woven around the truth. It is up to us to discover which is which. The traitor knew about this girl with Tristan's DNA and had intertwined that thread of truth into her lies to authenticate her claims. This wasn't Tristan's doing. He hadn't orchestrated the Amadis' downfall.
'Quiet!' Solomon bellowed once again.
'Martin, do you have a decision?' Armand asked, seizing the opportunity of silence.
Before Martin could answer, I jumped to my feet.
'Wait! You can't prove Tristan's betrayal with those results,' I said. Everyone stared at me with raised eyebrows, including Tristan. I took two steps forward. 'In vitro fertilization. The Daemoni could have taken–' I swallowed my embarrassment and pushed forward, holding Tristan's gaze as I spoke. 'They could have taken Tristan's semen and created this girl without his knowledge.'
Tristan's face showed a flicker of relief … or affirmation … or something. Could I be right? If he'd told me the truth–that he had no idea how Lilith could be his daughter–then this was the only solution. The one he hadn't been able to see. The Daemoni could have taken anything from him as soon as they captured him. They'd knocked him out with black magic, and he would have never known. He'd been telling me the truth!
This meant Lilith really was his daughter. And I'd have a decision to make. Which explained Tristan's expression. He felt relieved to see I believed him about being faithful … but worried about what this would do to us, if we made it out of here together. He'd said he'd raise someone else's daughter if he had to. Could I do the same?
My decision would have to wait. The crowd's noisy response drowned out my own thoughts.
Martin banged his fist on the table. 'Enough.'
'Is there a way to prove this?' Chandra asked.
'Of course not,' Armand said. 'And as such, we must proceed. We cannot take the risk this is another lie.'
'You can't prove it's not true either,' Mom challenged.
'You can't be certain either way,' I added. 'What happened to innocent until proven guilty?'
'This is not America,' one of the Middle Eastern mages said. 'Nor a democracy. Martin, what is your decision?'
'But she might be right!' someone said from the crowd.
'Which means the Daemoni are part of this,' someone else said.
The audience let loose with another outburst, some members supporting me, others backing Armand, saying the risk wasn't worth their lives.
'Even if it's true, he could be working with them,' Savio said. 'They can produce all kinds of his offspring, and they get the boy.'
'That's all we need to remember,' Armand said. 'More proof that Tristan is the traitor.'
'Does your vote remain then?' Martin asked, looking up and down the table. Everyone nodded.
'We agreed at recess that he ought to be banished,' Savio said. 'We move forward with Owen and Alexis.'
Martin rubbed his forehead with this thumb and forefinger. He opened his mouth to speak, closed it again. He looked at Tristan and then at me with blue eyes that darkened and softened with each heartbeat. As if to say he was sorry.
Tears sprang to my eyes.
'No. You can't,' I whispered, holding Martin's eyes as I shook my head slowly. And when he didn't respond, I nearly shouted, 'No! You banish Tristan, you banish me, too. You won't control me like this!'
I pushed one of the warlocks to the side and latched onto Tristan's arm.
'Get her out of here,' Armand barked. 'Get them both out of here.'
Someone grabbed me from behind–another guard. I gripped Tristan's arm, holding on tightly. The guard yanked at me. My fingers slipped. The warlocks pulled on Tristan from the other side, and Tristan easily went with them toward the door.
'No!' I screamed, my hands held out toward him. 'Tristan! No!'
I fought against the guard who carried me toward the opposite door, but he held me with all his strength. I yelled out a variety of profanities, letting the anger consume me before the pain did as I watched them take Tristan away from me. The current reality blended with the past, when he left me crying and begging for him to stay at the safe house. When he left me, left us, both Dorian and me. My heart cracked, and I knew when it broke into a million pieces again, it couldn't possibly be put back together a second time. Tears flowed down my cheeks. Please. No. Not again.
'Bree, you must say your piece now,' Lisa the faerie whispered as the guard dragged me by. 'This is the time!'
'Now or never, Bree,' Jessica said. 'Or everything will be for naught.'
My eyes went wild. Bree? She's here?!
'Wait!' Lilith's witch stood up so fast, her chair fell over behind her. Everyone stopped and stared at her, including the guards holding Tristan and me, surprised by her clear and strong voice. 'You are mistaken.'
'Excuse me, old witch?' Savio drawled.
The woman's upper lip curled in a snarl at the insult. 'There was no outside fertilization. The Daemoni didn't take Tristan's seed.'
