To ruin an Omega novel Chapter 369

Chapter 369: Bellerophon and the fly 2

ALDRIC

That was when the door opened.

I heard her before I saw her.

The sound of heels on stone. It was unhurried and it sure sounded deliberate. The kind of entrance that announced itself without a single word being spoken first.

My sister-in-law, Morrigan walked into the hall dressed in red.

The room reacted. I felt the shift in the air before I fully processed what I was looking at.

She looked completely fine.

More than fine. She looked like a woman who had slept well and chosen her outfit with care and arrived exactly when she intended to.

She found her seat along the wall and settled into it like she had simply been delayed by something unimportant.

Then she looked at me.

"Was that an accusation, brother-in-law?"

Her voice was smooth and carried easily through the hall.

"I did not believe what was being said against you," she continued. "I want that stated clearly. And I am certain many saw and heard. But to use me in service of a lie, in front of this circle, is a particularly cruel thing."

She folded her hands in her lap.

"I am here. Clearly not receiving treatment. So what lie is this?"

The hall went very quiet.

I felt the ground shift slightly beneath me and I kept my face still while it happened.

She had anticipated this. She had walked in healthy and composed and dressed in a color that made her impossible to ignore and she had cut off the line before I could use it. I did not know when she had figured me out. I did not know when Morrigan had decided on poison as her method, or how long she had been watching me the way I had been watching her. But she had. And she had struck well first.

It annoyed me considerably.

I held her gaze and she looked back at me with something that was not quite hatred but lived very close to it. She had wanted me to die painfully. She had wanted me to convulse in my cell and be found in a few hours maybe and have it mean nothing, be called nothing, just a man who finally ran out of time because he knew he was guilty and didn’t want to face that reality.

I intended to refuse her that.

The head elder turned back to me.

"You are still claiming poisoning?"

"I am," I said. "Whatever she took as an antidote, she recovered faster than I have. That does not change what is in my blood."

Elder Callum turned to confer with the circle. I watched Pryce lean in. He said something short and sharp and then glanced at me once. Saoirse nodded slightly beside him.

They were trying. I could see them trying.

But the room had watched Morrigan walk in looking like that. And the room was doing the math.

Then Madeline stood. Her father also caught my attention. He was smiling down at me. Quite pleased that a day like this had finally arrived.

I looked back at Madeline. Truly looked at her for the first time since they had entered. She stood straight with her hands clasped in front of her and her expression composed in a way that had clearly cost her something.

"I am a witch with a powerful healing ability," she said to the circle. "I can determine whether this man is poisoned and treat it accordingly. I believe he staged this for sympathy and to manipulate these proceedings." She paused. "But I want justice carried out properly. Not muddied by doubt. If he is sick, let me confirm it and remove it as a variable."

Elder Callum looked at the circle.

The room murmured.

One of the younger elders shook his head. "We do not know this woman’s gifts well enough to trust them here."

"The pack healers," another said. "We should send for them."

Morrigan’s voice cut through cleanly.

"When I was poisoned by an Omega we have now learned was working not for Gabriel but for Aldric himself, it was this witch who healed me." She looked at the elders without blinking. "Drop the prejudice and let her do her work. It is clear to me that someone is trying to delay these proceedings and I would like very much to know why."

The circle murmured among themselves.

I watched Pryce’s face. He was trying to object. The angle was there. But Morrigan had framed it well and the room had heard it and the two votes he needed on his side to carry any counter motion were not moving the way they needed to.

Callum was being careful and the other bitch seemed to be holding back. Did swh not know what she stood to lose?

His eyes cut to mine for half a second.

I kept my face still.

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