Chapter 195 Enough
Uriel raised his staff. Zander had already given him solid evidences earlier that the man managed to gather whenever he slipped inside the royal estate grounds before. Not only proof against Ava, but a full list of who inside the estate was secretly working for Cain.
A sharp pulse of magic burst upward. Smoke twisted, condensed into runes, then formed shimmering screens of memory.
The hall gasped.
Scenes flickered into view: Ava handing Nilda a vial while they discussed how Princess Riela and the Queen Mother could be used to their advantage against Althea. Nilda sneaking into Princess Riela’s chamber, altering Uriel’s potion to halt her recovery. Then the Queen Mother, sipping tea laced with a hypnotic potion. Ava leaning over the sleeping Queen Mother, murmuring spell after spell.
Ava’s face drained of color.
Nilda staggered back, trembling. “No—this isn’t—this is manipulated—”
“Uriel,” Gavriel said, voice sharp. “Repeat the detection seal.”
Uriel slammed his staff into the floor.
The glowing memory screens replayed, this time with runic seals of authenticity around each frame. There was no denying it. This wasn’t illusion. This wasn’t trickery. This was truth.
The hall shook with whispers.
“Heavens… Ava?”
“She bewitched the Queen Mother?”
“Dark magic… in the palace?”
Ava panicked for the first time.
“Alpha King! This is a misunderstanding!” She dropped to her knees. “I swear, I only wanted to help—”
Gavriel rose from his throne. The hall froze. He walked slowly toward her, boots echoing like thunder. When he stopped in front of her, he looked down with a calm so cold it made the air thin.
“You used dark magic on my mother.”
Ava shook her head frantically. “No—I—I did it to save your kingdom—!”
“You sabotaged Princess Riela’s healing.”
“She was dangerous! She—she carries a dangerous power and she’s insane so—”
Gavriel’s jaw flexed. He spoke low.
“You tried to harm her that can cost her her life!”
Ava froze.
“And worst of all…” Gavriel leaned closer, eyes burning gold. “You dared to manipulate the one person in this kingdom I will never forgive anyone for harming.”
Ava’s breath trembled.
The Queen Mother’s voice suddenly rose, controlled by Ava’s spell. “My son—Ava is loyal to us and our kingdom. She helped us a lot all these years. She’s only protecting the kingdom and what’s best for us so—”
Gavriel finally turned to her. And in the softest voice he had spoken all day. “Mother. You are enchanted. That is not your voice.”
A hush fell.
Uriel stepped forward, took the antidote from Gavriel, and uncorked the bottle. He drew its contents with his staff, then tapped the glowing tip gently to the Queen Mother.
A thin layer of dark mist rippled across her body. It shuddered once, then dissolved like smoke smothered by wind.
The Queen Mother gasped and staggered. Uriel caught her before she could fall.
Her eyes cleared. Focus snapped back into place.
She blinked around the hall in confusion then sudden horror.
“What…? What happened? Gavriel… why am I here…?” Her gaze darted to Ava and Nilda.
“You… you put something in my tea. You tried to control me. You fed me instructions… and false details… didn’t you?”
Ava choked out a sob of desperation. “Your Majesty—please—someone manipulated—”
“My Queen Mother,” Gavriel said, voice steady, “you were poisoned. And hypnotized. By Ava and Nilda.”
The Queen Mother paled. Her hands shook.
“No… no, that can’t be…” Ava tried to crawl closer. “Your Majesty, I would never—!”
Gavriel snapped. “Do not move.”
Ava froze.
Then Gavriel took a long breath, letting the room settle into deafening silence.
“Today,” he said, “we settle the crimes committed in my palace.”
Ava shivered. “Alpha King—please—let me explain—”
“You will explain,” Gavriel said. “Before the entire kingdom.”
Ava’s eyes lit with desperate hope. Maybe she thought he would spare her. Maybe she believed she could still twist the situation. Maybe she believed she had a chance.
But she did not. Gavriel’s eyes cut into her like blades.
“As for your crimes…” Gavriel paused, letting the silence sharpen until the entire hall felt it. “…you will face death before the Kingdom along with your accomplices and the rest of Cain’s spies hiding within my estate.”
A wave of confusion rippled through the hall.
Ava’s eyes widened. “Your Majesty, we must look for Princess Riela!” she blurted out desperately. “She’s been taken by Cain and his daughter! Don’t you see? You’re the one being manipulated, bewitched, by the traitor’s daughter! You’re protecting her!”
Her voice cracked as she spun to the crowd, shouting hysterically, “Princess Riela is missing! She’s in danger! The traitor’s daughter is under the covenant of binding. The matebond is on the verge of breaking! She’ll die if she fails to heal the princess in five days—five days! Don’t you see how desperate she is!? She must have taken Princess Riela!”
She turned back to Gavriel, reaching out helplessly. “Your Majesty… please. Riela is in danger. I’m being framed! What if she’s—”
“Ava.” Gavriel cut her off, voice sharp enough to slice through her plea.
He didn’t raise his voice, yet the room went still. Ava froze like the air itself had turned against her.
“Y-yes, Alpha King?”
“You want to know where Princess Riela is?”
A beat passed and the crowd leaned in. Ava swallowed.
Gavriel’s lips curved—not in a smile, but in the coldest smirk she had ever seen. “She is safe.”
Ava’s stomach dropped.
Worse, Gavriel stepped closer and said quietly enough for her to hear, yet loud enough that the hall fell dead silent: “And she is not with Cain.”
Ava’s hands trembled. Gavriel straightened and looked at the crowd.
“Princess Riela is under the protection of someone far more powerful than any dark spell your hands can conjure. She will return soon fully healed and back to her old self.”
Ava’s eyes widened. She finally understood… Gavriel knew everything and she fell into the trap. That Zander was probably working with Althea. About the spell, Gavriel knew she was lying. The reality settled over Ava like ice water.
Her mouth opened to speak and Gavriel raised his hand. “Enough.”