Page 168 of Maksym

“Yes.”

“You saw her socializing?”

“Yes.”

“You did not see anyone threaten her at that time?”

“No.”

“Good,” I said.

The word seemed to unsettle him more than an objection would have.

I stepped away from the defense table with my legal pad in one hand, though I did not look at it yet. I knew these notes. I had written them into the back of my skull.

“You also spoke with her that evening.”

He glanced toward the prosecution table. The spell pulsed.

“Yes,” he said.

“About what?”

“Obsidian. Texas. Her brother’s pack. Normal things.”

“Fated mates?”

His throat moved. “Briefly.”

“Tell the Council what she said.”

“She said she believed in fated mates.”

“Did she say she hoped to find a mate among Ironwood wolves?”

“No.”

His answers came faster now, not because he wanted to help me, but because the truth spell punished obstruction in ways his body had begun to anticipate. A faint sheen stood along his hairline.

“Did you press her on whether wolves should only be mated to wolves?” I asked.

He blinked. “I don’t remember.”

The spell vibrated sharply enough that one of the quills stopped mid-air.

He flinched.

“I mean—yes. Maybe. I just wondered about it.”

“You wondered about it.”

“She was a wolf. We knew she was mated to a vampire prince.”

“And what did she say when you wondered aloud?”

His hands tightened on the arms of the witness chair. “She said the Goddess knew better than we did.”

Maddie made a sound behind me.