The Vampire King's Possession
Chapter 771. Trial (3)

Chapter 771: 771. Trial (3)

"Bring in Otis!" Jael commanded.

A guard moved quickly, and the doors to the courtroom were opened as Otis walked in. He was also chained, as Louis had been. However, the chain wasn’t used to pull him forward; instead, the end was dropped on the floor, and it dragged behind him as he walked. He was put in the second box beside Seraphino and faced the lords.

After the shackles were pulled away from his wrists, Louis stepped forward and placed the letter in front of him. "Is this your blood?" Louis asked.

"Yes."

"Is this your handwriting?"

"Yes."

"Did you write this?"

"Yes."

"Were you impersonating Lord Seraphino?"

Otis slowly turned his head to look at Seraphino, who wouldn’t meet his eyes.

"Answer me," Louis stated.

"No, I wrote this on his orders."

"To your knowledge, is there anything incorrect in this?"

"No," Otis shook his head.

"So Lord Seraphino did intend to kidnap the Primus’s mate and would have gone through with it if the Phelans had agreed."

"To my knowledge, yes."

"And his reason for doing so is because he heard she can kill Palers?"

Otis slowly nodded his head.

"Did you not say something about not committing a crime?" Louis directed his question to Seraphino.

Seraphino loudly sighed. He was aware of how dire his situation was. He hadn’t thought Lord Phelan and his son would chicken out. He thought they hated the human as much as he did, and maybe they did, but ever since everyone knew about the fact that she could burn Palers to death, a lord was suddenly less significant than a human.

Seraphino could feel his blood boil in his ears. Regardless of what he said or did, or even the fact that he hadn’t committed this crime, no one was going to listen. He could see it in their eyes. All they cared about was dealing with Palers; no one else seemed to be bothered that a human was slowly and steadily rising above them.

Seraphino slowly turned to Louis. "I haven’t committed a crime," he stated boldly, then turned to the lords. "Letting yourself answer to the call of a human—isn’t it embarrassing?" Seraphino asked. "Here we all are, out of our beds—"

"Are you ready to cast your votes now?" Jael asked no one in particular, and he didn’t ask to get a response. "There is a piece of paper under your table. The penalty for a lord attempting to attack the Primus’s mate is getting stripped of your title and getting banished. Both would get the same punishment. Vote!"

Seraphino watched as all the lords put their hands to the table and pulled out the letters. They were doing exactly as the Primus ordered—even Lady Jevera, who should hate the human for taking her place. Lord Drusile, who couldn’t stand humans—he knew no one was taking his side.

Seraphino’s eyes turned bloodshot, and his vision blurred. He would rather die than be reduced to this because of a human. Suddenly, he wondered why he should be the one dying. He didn’t do anything wrong; this was the human’s fault.

Mauve felt cold as Seraphino met her eyes again. This was the second time he had met her gaze, and the same queasy feeling she had the first time flowed through her. She turned to Jael, but his attention was on the paper as he cast his vote.

She turned back to Seraphino, and there was a spear heading right for her neck. Mauve instinctively moved her head to the side, toward Jael. There was no way to avoid it, but at least she could make it less fatal. She saw Jael’s horror, but it was too late. The spear sliced through her shoulder and pierced the wall. Blood spurted out, and Mauve clamped her hand over it, but that didn’t stop the blood from gushing out.

"Louis! Kieran!" Jael screamed, just as commotion erupted in the hall.

Louis moved fast and was by her side in the blink of an eye, ripping his clothes to tie her wound, but Jael moved faster. Seraphino’s head rolled to the ground as an ax slashed it off. Mauve didn’t even see it. All she saw was his head falling and rolling on the ground, followed by deafening silence. Mauve felt her eyes roll to the back of her head, and everything went dark.

---

When she woke up, she was in her room, and it was dark, but it only took a second for her eyes to get used to the darkness. Jael was in the room with her, his hand holding hers tightly. Mauve smiled as she met his eyes. "Hey," she simply said, starting to sit up.

"Don’t move," Jael said. "You lost a lot of blood. I was afraid you w-would—" Jael’s voice cracked; he couldn’t say it.

"I am fine," Mauve said, stubbornly refusing to follow his order. This wasn’t a lie; she did feel fine. Even her shoulder didn’t hurt as much as she thought it would. It just felt a little stiff.

"I shouldn’t have let it get to this point. I should have sliced off his neck as soon as I saw that letter, as soon as he came through the castle gates. He should have been a dead man! I’m always too slow, aren’t I? I put you and the child at risk again."

"We are fine," Mauve said, fully sitting upright.

"If you hadn’t moved, it would have been a completely different story. I should have known nothing was beneath Seraphino, but to try to kill you in front of everyone? He truly is despicable."

"What happened to him?" Mauve asked. She could remember seeing his head roll off, but her memory after that was hazy.

"Dead!" Jael stated. "I should have done this a long time ago."

"I thought there was a rule that said vampires couldn’t kill other vampires."

"There is, but I’m sure everyone would agree. This is well deserved, especially after Seraphino tried to kill you, knowing full well you’re the one who can kill Palers. He was no longer a threat to just humans but vampires too."

Mauve nodded as she felt her eyes water. She knew if her sight were still what it used to be, she wouldn’t have seen the spear coming. It was so fast; the guard it had been taken from didn’t even have the chance to alert Jael. She gently placed her hand on her shoulder. "Is the evil really over?"

"Yes!" Jael said.

Mauve’s eyes widened; she didn’t even know she had said that out loud. "Join me in bed," she said and pulled him onto it before hearing his response.

She rested her head on his chest as they lay on the bed together, his hand on her stomach. She traced her fingers over his chest, trying to listen to his heartbeat.

"Mauve," he called. "Won’t you eat something? You lost a lot of blood. Kieran said to take lots of liquids."

"I know you might think I’m lying, but I feel fine. My shoulder doesn’t even hurt. I’m more shaken by what happened than in pain. I’m really glad it turned out this way. I—" she pressed her face against his chest. She didn’t want to think about it.