Chapter 225: Stand Trial II
Well. Things were off to a terrible start, much to my dismay. Meanwhile, Alpha Thorton could only smirk smugly to himself.
"What did I say?" He scoffed at Alpha Burke. "No matter how badly I treated him, I would never be as callous to him as Damon Valentine was."
"How did I even end up in Fangborne?" Darach demanded. It would have sounded more petulant if not for the fact that his voice was croaky from disuse. He suddenly bowed over, coughing so hard that his pale skin turned red from exertion.
I spotted Nicole’s hand holding a glass of water. Darach eyed it suspiciously as he took it from her, but didn’t drink.
"It’s just water. Your throat must be itchy. You’ve been asleep for nearly a week," Nicole explained softly.
"A week? How on earth?" Darach’s eyes widened, and water spilled from the glass in his hand as his hands shook and trembled.
I guess this news would be shocking to anyone. It was a pity we didn’t have the luxury of time to get Darach acclimatized to his new surroundings before springing this trial on him.
Suddenly, I was having second thoughts about getting him to testify― what if Darach collapsed once again from stress?
Alpha Thorton eagerly interjected his unwanted opinion in the proceedings.
"My poor son is terrified. Just look at him!" Alpha Thorton exclaimed, pointing to Darach’s shaking hands. "As he should be, he is deep in enemy territory. Who knows what this woman is actually making him drink?"
"It’s water, are you hard of hearing?" Alpha Burke retorted. "Or do doctors in your own pack have a tendency to drug patients, that you’re automatically so suspicious of aid?"
Truth be told, I wouldn’t put it past Thunderstrike’s healers. After all, they had looked after Darach for years, and based on Nicole’s diagnosis, they were clearly not bothering to ensure that he remained in the best of health.
"I’m simply not an old doddering fool that spends more time breathing in pollen than managing his pack," Alpha Thorton argued.
"You―"
"With all due respect, Alpha Thorton Elrod, if they were drugging him, they wouldn’t have gotten the oracles’ help to let you see him," Milo said, holding his father’s arm to calm him down.
He used Alpha Thorton’s name and title, but everyone in the venue somehow had the feeling that he would have sounded politer if he had simply cursed him out instead.
"They would simply let him remain unconscious, you stupid man," Luna Cassidy added to her son’s words, rolling her eyes.
Alpha Thorton’s face grew incensed and he bellowed. "The disrespect―"
"Can you keep quiet?" Blaise asked, shushing him as though he was an errant child. "Our healer is speaking."
Back in Fangborne’s infirmary, Nicole continued to mother her patient, expertly ignoring the loud yelling emerging from the bowl. Meanwhile, Darach slowly inched the bowl further away from himself with a frown to put it on his lap, so that all we could see from him was part of his body, covered in bandages; his face could be seen from a highly unflattering angle from the underside of his chin.
Well. If it made him more comfortable, I couldn’t fault him. He had bigger things to worry about.
"Do you remember what happened before you passed out?" Nicole asked gently.
’Please let him remember,’ I pleaded to the Moon Goddess. If he remembered nothing, we were so screwed.
"Not much," Darach confessed with a tired sigh as he slumped back against his pillows, his eyes nearly closing in exhaustion. "I remember the wedding. God. That was a disaster." He let out a weak chuckle. "But I’m glad it was ruined. My sister is free of that monster."
"What happened after?" Nicole asked calmly. I had to applaud her calmness. My own palms were sweating with nervousness with every word that emerged from Darach’s lips, and Alpha Thorton looked so victorious it was making me sick.
Damon’s face was wooden. I wanted nothing more than to hold his hand to support him, but I couldn’t afford to, with so many eyes on us. I turned my gaze back to the bowl.
Even from the poor angle, I could see the wry smile Darach gave in response. "My father and sister found out I had a part to play in that mess, and they didn’t like it."
"You came to me with severe injuries," Nicole said. "Did they do it to you? Or was it Damon?"
Darach scoffed. "Like Damon would ever lower himself to lay his hands on me. Everyone in Fangborne left the moment they could."
"So, this was..." My heart raced.
"My father and my sister did it," Darach said simply.
He turned to Nicole, and whatever he saw must have made him panic, for he waved his hands around, causing the bowl to jostle on his lap.
"Why do you look so sorry for me? It’s not the first time I suffered something like this," Darach asked in confusion. "You’re from Fangborne; you shouldn’t care about me. God knows your Alpha would have done the same."
"Harper and Blaise wouldn’t have let him," Nicole chided gently. "If you don’t trust Damon, you should at least trust them. They spared no expense to save you, even though this would put them in trouble with Thunderstrike."
Suddenly, all eyes were on me and Blaise. Most of them were incredulous, but if glares could kill, Alpha Thorton and his daughter would have sent me six feet under. I cleared my throat and gestured at them to pay attention to Darach’s words.
"I am in their debt," Darach said sincerely as he gazed down into his hands, blinking away tears that formed in his eyes. "If it weren’t for them, I would be dead by now."
Alpha Thorton’s smug face vanished faster than a puff of smoke. The smugness migrated to Alpha Burke’s face, who smiled like the cat who got the canary.
It was highly unprofessional, but I stifled a snort when I saw him blatantly high-fiving his wife.
"This is preposterous! It’s a set-up!" Alpha Thorton yelled, his face the color of ripe grapes. "Darach, I know you can hear me! Stop trying to ruin your family!"
