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Nadine leaned toward the microphone and said with firm conviction, “The only thing I am guilty of is protecting my coven.”
Verla let the statement sink in for a moment then said, “No further questions, your honor.”
Olivia stood to begin her cross examination. “Nadine, you testified that you are not able to use the Alchemy Wand, because you yourself are not an Alchemist.”
“That is correct,” Nadine said.
“Please bring up evidence file one-three-four,” Olivia said.
An image of Nadine sitting near the fireplace in the Main Foyer at school appeared on the screen. I didn’t know when it’d been taken, but it was clearly without her consent. In it, she was reading a textbook, oblivious that the photo was being taken at all. She was reaching up to push a strand of hair behind her ear. The image clearly showed the cauldron tattoo on her forearm.
“Miss Evers, you have the mark of an Alchemist, do you not?” Olivia questioned.
“It’s a non-magical tattoo I had done at a tattoo parlor,” Nadine said.
“These marks are sacred to our Casts,” Olivia stated. “Why would you falsely mark yourself with the Alchemy symbol?”
“When I discovered I was a Curse Breaker, I feared what the coven might want from me,” Nadine admitted. “I posed as an Alchemist the following semester, so that the coven wouldn’t abuse me for my magic—which they’ve done since the moment they found out.”
“Objection,” Olivia stated.
“Sustained,” the judge said. “Please strike Nadine’s last statement from the record.”
Olivia looked proud as she continued. “In order to convince the coven you were an Alchemist, you needed to be able to use Alchemy magic. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” Nadine said.
“So you can use Alchemy magic?”
“I can transfer magic from one place to another, so I can pull Alchemy magic from a crystal and put it into a potion. I cannot cast Alchemy magic myself—”
“Have the record show that Nadine Evers testified that she can, in fact, use Alchemy magic.”
“That’s not really how it works—” Nadine started, but Olivia cut her off.
“You’ll answer my questions and nothing further.”
Nadine went silent, and Olivia smirked. The jury would believe Nadine could use the Alchemy Wand. They’d believe she poisoned the officers.
Olivia flipped through her notes. “Nadine, you testified that you objected to the council’s policy change regarding school-sponsored health insurance, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t it true that as a patient on dialysis, you were benefiting from this school-sponsored health insurance program?” Olivia asked.
“Yes, but I was also paying for it,” Nadine said curtly.
Olivia’s tone turned condescending. “You were paying over seventy-five-thousand dollars per year for your healthcare?”
Nadine furrowed her brow. “No, I’m not sure where you’re getting that number.”
Olivia checked her notes. “That is how much dialysis costs, correct?”
“Roughly,” Nadine agreed. “However, my insurance was paying for it.”
“So you paid a relatively low insurance premium, and got tens of thousands of dollars in benefits, funded by your fellow students,” Olivia sneered.
“Yes, that is how health insurance works,” Nadine stated simply.
