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Olivia continued putting evidence from that night on the screen, painting us to be heartless murderers. They’d neglected to mention the connection to the missing boys we’d attempted to save. They wanted to make us out as monsters.
By the time she finished questioning Lilian about the Pinewood Manor deaths, the jury had to believe we were guilty of premeditated murder. The priestesses made it out like we’d gone there that night with the intent to kill.
But Olivia Sinclair didn’t stop there. She brought up photo after photo, evidence file after evidence file, showing our connection to these murders.
Shock riveted through me when Olivia called up evidence file number one-seven-one. An image of the Alchemy Wand appeared on the screen.
“Priestess Lilian, can you state for the jury what we’re looking at?” she asked.
“This is an Oaken Wand—an Alchemy Wand,” Lilian said.
A gasp traveled around the courtroom. The stories of the Oaken Wands were old. Some people hadn’t even heard of them, and anyone who had heard of them believed them to be nothing more than urban legends.
“The Oaken Wands exist?” Olivia asked.
“Yes,” Lilian stated. “We provided photo evidence for the safety of the coven, because these artifacts are too valuable to be presented in court today.”
I never thought I’d live to see the day when the priestesses admitted they had their hands on an Oaken Wand. They wouldn’t want the coven to know, because they didn’t know who might try to take it from them. This was risky.
“Can you describe for the jury what exactly an Oaken Wand is?” Olivia asked.
Lilian turned toward the jury and told the story of the Oaken Wands—how they were carved from the Protection Tree and had the power to attract the magic of a Cast. “With all five Wands, we will be able to redistribute magic and end the Waning,” Lilian told them.
I witnessed the jury’s eyes light up. They looked at her like she was the Goddess herself come to save them.
“The Oaken Wands were stolen from the Imperium Council forty years ago, correct?” Olivia asked.
“Yes,” Lilian said. “By Nicholas Tucker, in fact. It is why he was executed.”
Lilian’s husband had spent a life in jail, and she was still sticking to her story that he’d executed my grandfather? She was trying to get the jury to believe I’d had the Alchemy Wand all along, that I’d infiltrated the Imperium Council to continue my grandfather’s work—all without stating it explicitly. Still, the coven would believe it.
These women were spinning a web of lies, and the only hope I had is that they would trap themselves in it. Problem was, webs were built to catch prey—and I was the greatest prey they’d ever hunted.
“How did the council come into possession of the Alchemy Wand again after all this time?” Olivia asked.
“We confiscated it from Nadine Evers the night of the Burning,” Lilian said.
I was shocked to hear her refer to that night as the Burning. The priestesses had never acknowledged it as such before. When I saw the expressions on the jury’s faces, I realized she was playing them—telling them what they wanted to hear. She wanted to invoke horrible emotions, all tied back to us.
“With the power of this Wand, could the owner, say… poison the blood of their enemies?” Olivia asked.
“Absolutely,” Lilian said.
Olivia brought up more photographs on the screen, and several jury members gaged at the sight of corpses. The images showed the two dead officers Grant had killed using the Alchemy Wand. Their bodies lay on morgue tables, and their faces were purple and swollen, so much that they barely looked human anymore. It looked like they’d been beaten to death from the inside out. The prosecution knew exactly what they were doing bringing up the Alchemy Wand. I’d never looked so guilty.
They went on to present more photos and evidence from that night. The prosecution neglected to mention the lives we’d saved in the process. Darcy, Samantha, and Felicia were alive because of us. Lucas, Talia, and Miles, too.
The jury looked to be eating this up.
“Priestess Lilian,” Olivia continued. “Is it true that Nadine Evers used the Alchemy Wand that night to poison these two officers?”
“That is what the evidence suggests,” Lilian said proudly.
“How is that possible if Nadine is a Curse Breaker?” Olivia asked.
I didn’t like where this was going. She wouldn’t ask the question unless they’d already prepared a damning answer.
“Curse Breakers are capable of manipulating Alchemy magic,” Lilian stated. “Nadine proved this when she posed as an Alchemist for a full semester following her Evoking Ceremony. She brewed many potions by stealing Alchemy magic from other students. She’s fully capable of wielding the Alchemy Wand.”
