Page 32 of Nearly Dead

I start to call out the lie, but Rhea beats me to it.

“Liar!Murderer!It was your spell!”Rhea jumps to her feet and tries to charge toward Elizabeth.Sully restrains her, struggling as she snarls and starts to shift.He growls loudly and throws her so hard against her seat that it cracks beneath her weight.He points his finger in warning, forcing her to stay on the ground.

The chamber erupts in chaos as everyone begins to argue.Energy ripples in warning from the magics while the vampires push up from their seats and bare their fangs.The witch holds up a bottle of green potion as if ready to throw it.Decimus materializes a long staff.

Zephronis again lifts both hands, and everyone instantly stops.I feel a subtle ripple of magic wash over me from the gesture.He waits for everyone to settle before slowly lowering his arms to rest at his sides.

“If I may,” I speak for the first time, my voice steadier than I expected.All eyes turn to me, some curious, but most openly hostile.“I didn’t ask to be turned.I didn’t ask for any of this.But I’m standing before you, in control of myself, willing to answer your questions.That’s why we’re here, right?To see if I’m a mindless monster?”

Elizabeth smirks.She’s enjoying herself.I can practically see her mind calculating ways to push my buttons.I remember her offer for a cure.Is that her plan?To force me into a corner so I have to beg her for help?

Madam Britannia holds her potion but no longer threatens to throw it.She leans forward.“Control is relative, child.My sources tell me you’ve been restrained for days.That you attacked your own sire.”

“It wasn’t…” I think of sex with Costin and can’t bring myself to explain.I mean, come on, my parents and every elder on the continent are right here staring at me.“It wasn’t an attack.”

It wasn’tjustan attack, but something far more primal.

Heat rises to my cheeks, remembering in exact details what happened between Costin and me.Even now, the bond between us pulses when his eyes meet mine.

“I was newly turned and confused,” I answer carefully.“I’ve since learned better control.”

“With the aid of suppression potions,” Decimus notes, his eyes flicking to Astrid.“Not true control.What happens without it?”

“We were all young once,” Elizabeth says with a laugh.“Who here hasn’t gone on a violent sexual rampage?”She laughs harder and points at Madam Britannia.“Well, clearly you haven’t.Even a dead goblin wouldn’t fuck that sour?—”

“Enough,” Decimus orders.

“Vampire whore,” Britannia grumbles.

“Dusty spinster prude,” Elizabeth answers.

“Lord Constantine,” Decimus demands, “control your sister.”

Elizabeth’s eyes narrow, and her smile becomes stiff.

Zephronis raises a hand, calling for silence.He looks weary.“Lord Constantine.You are her vampire sire and well-respected by this council.I would hear you speak as to her nature.”

“Her true nature,” Costin says softly, “is complex.She is both vampire and werewolf, and something more entirely.She saved the lives of many.She tamed Draakmar and kept him from ending the world.She faced the labyrinth as a mortal.She stopped magic from being stripped from the world?—”

I watch Elizabeth’s stiff face and frozen gaze.I can practically feel her invisible rage.

“—and redistributed to those who would destroy centuries of tradition.And she survived death to become something magnificent.”Costin’s lip twitches subtly, breaking his stoic demeanor.It was slight, but I can tell I’m not the only one who caught the expression.

Zephronis looks at Sully.“Since Thane is not here to claim his place as her maker, I would hear from his second.Sullivan, speak.”

Sully stands, his chest puffing up with his own importance.“Thane bit her before the vampire.The wolf blood in her is strong.Alpha blood.It calls to her true nature.”

“She is an abomination,” a voice calls from the far side of the chamber.It takes me a moment, but I see Birch is the one talking.“She should be imprisoned.”

Anthony glares at him as Mortimer holds my brother by his shoulder to keep him seated.

“Such hybrids have been forbidden for good reason,” Birch continues.“They cannot maintain the balance between natures.They inevitably go mad.”

“Yet here she stands,” Astrid counters, her voice cutting through the growing tension.

Zephronis looks toward Birch, Mortimer, Anthony, and my father before turning to where Astrid stands beside me.“Lady Astrid, speak on behalf of the Devines.”

“I will speak for my family,” my father says, standing as Mortimer pushes him up by the arm.

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