Chapter 49

Mira

I was restless all night.

Tossing and turning, sometimes accidentally hitting Dominic in my attempts to get more comfortable or clear my head of the theories spinning around it.

Dominic and I were up early since we had promised his father that we would all meet first thing and make our way back to the courtroom as a family.

Davos was diplomatic and pleasant, clearly not trying to display too much emotion for the public to take the wrong way. I was grateful for his ability to stay calm, something Dominic must have learned or inherited from him.

Irene was not as tactful, and wore her disdain proudly for all to see.

Lucian looked bored and like he had somewhere else to be, but still smiled at me and tried to get me to sit with him in the courtroom. I politely declined his invitation and stayed close to Dominic.

Tessa wouldn’t look at me. And when she did, it was only to continue to glare daggers at me, shaking her head as if I was the biggest disappointment in the family and it was all my fault.

I tried to ignore her, but she had perfected her pout and pathetic sighs that I had to actively tune out her attempts to get a rise out of me.

And so, our motley crew entered the courtroom and took our seats of honor towards the front.

Though I couldn’t be sure, it seemed there were more people in the gallery than yesterday, and the atmosphere in the room was tense.

After a brief opening speech, the evidence was presented in summary to reiterate the cast against Lila.

“…and these crimes could be punishable with excommunication or death.”

I stopped listening to the legal arguments echoing in the chamber, fixed my eyes on Lila. While she was flustered and forlorn yesterday, now she seemed completely calm and resolute. It was as if overnight she had understood some great philosophy of the meaning of life, the serenity in her face was enchanting.

When Lila was called to take the stand, she rose from her seat and floated toward the bench. It looks like her feet barely touch the ground. I start to wonder if she is hasn’t eaten anything in two days and is starting to hallucinate.

The prosecutor is tough but not ruthless, as he has also known Lila most of her life. Lila repeated that she was “not guilty,” and seemed more and more disassociated and agitated with each question that was asked of her. She was not in distress, but seemed annoyed that she was still participating in this legal circus.

She was speaking faster and faster, interrupting the interrogator and slowly shaking her head side to side.

“Not guilty, not guilty,” she repeated.

I started to perk up in my seat, my medical senses tingling as I watched Lila continue to spiral. Dominic noticed me sit forward in my seat and looked at me. I kept my eyes on Lila, but discreetly squeezed his arm to let him know that I was on alert.

More and more we seem to be able to communicate with simple body language or pointed looks, and this was one of those times when I was most grateful for this pseudo-telepathic bond between us.

He didn’t need to know what exactly was bothering me to understand that I needed his backup, and as he turned back in his seat I could sense that he was amplifying his sensory awareness to survey the room.

At this point, Lila’s defense team had the floor once more.

Photographs were shown of Lila with Dominic and Tessa, carefree teenagers mugging for the camera. Fresh tears welled up in Tessa’s eyes when she saw it, but Dominic was silent.

“I have been given permission by the defendant to read an excerpt from a personal diary,” the lawyer was saying. “This evidence is presented to speak to Lila’s character, proving she would never have the desire or motive to harm Dominic in such a grizzly manner as she is being accused.”

Dominic’s jaw tightened, but otherwise he remained still. I pressed the side of my body closer to him on the bench where we sat, offering him quiet support. A tiny twitch in his eye conveyed his appreciation.

“…and even if he never chose me back, I think I will love D for the rest of my life,” the lawyer read aloud. “Maybe I’m pathetic, but it would just be enough to be around him. He has been through so much and deserves to be happy— whether that is with me or with C.”

Small murmurs went up through the crowd as he finished reading. Lila’s face drooped as she relived the time when she wrote those personal thoughts. I cannot imagine hearing them read aloud in this way, and my heart went out to her.

“This was written just three years ago,” it was explained. “Does this sound like the type of woman who would deliberately poison her friend?”

There was nodding in the crowd, and even the elders looked sympathetic.

“It is my assumption that this woman was manipulated, set up, and she was completely unaware of the real consequences of her actions.”

I started to see where he was going, and realized I was holding my breath.

“You didn’t mean to hurt anyone, did you Liia?” her lawyer asked in a softer voice.

“No, not guilty” Lila sniffled.

“You were following your heart, weren’t you?”

“Mmhmm,” she nodded.

“You only wanted the man you had loved since childhood to love you back, isn’t that right?”

She said nothing, perhaps too embarrassed and the emotions too raw to speak.

“Something went wrong, didn’t it Lila?” the lawyer continued. “It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.”

“Not guilty.”

“Of course not, you didn’t want to hurt anyone.”

Collective sighs of pity moved like a wave through the room.

“It wasn’t your idea, was it Lila?”

The room itself seems to hold its breath. He held out the bait to his defendant, and the world wondered if she would take it or spiral further into incoherence.

Suddenly Lila’s eyes became pinpoints, like she was seeing for the first time.

“It wasn’t my idea!” Lila practically shouted, and she seemed to break free of some trance that she’d been under. “It wasn’t my idea, not guilty, not guilty…”

She trailed off once more, her body deflating a bit with the intensity of her outburst.

“Whose idea was it, Lila?” he went on with his questions. “Whose idea was it to do this, to try to hurt Dominic?”

Lila was rocking back and forth, her hands returning to wringing the handkerchief.

“Is that person in this room? Are they here with us, Lila?”

Her eyes were unfocused, but the nodding of her head was unmistakable.

“Can you point to them, Lila?” His voice was colorful, as if he was talking to a child. “Who made you do this? Point to them, show us who it was.”

He brought his face right in front of hers and she was able to concentrate on his features. Her face morphed as she processed the request.

Her eyes moved first, then her head. Then her right arm rose straight out from her body and pointed across the room.

“It was her.”

She was pointing at Irene.