CHAPTER 427 - DISCREDITED

CHAPTER 427 - DISCREDITED
RAINA’S POV
Valen’s white brows drooped with a frown. He leaned down so close that our mouths were impossibly close, and I gulped.
“The mark you have is my unwavering loyalty,” he said lightly, gently cupping my face.
I exhaled in relief, smiling softly as we stared at each other.
It wasn’t him. How fantastic. Suddenly, every doubt skulked away to the back of my mind. Now, there was only him, his gentle touch and otherworldly emeralds.
Questions exploded around the chamber, breaking our trance and wrenching us apart. I turned sideways to observe everyone. The truth gutted them. They exchanged dazed glances, completely bewildered as each one backtracked the account of her heat.
My heart soared as I became deeply invested in hearing what they had to say about their beloved Lunairess.
"Who marked her?" Aughi asked with a blank, disbelieving stare.
"When?" Poel queried, taken aback, digging fingers up the side of his topknot copper-red hair.
"How long has that mark existed?" Saaki probed, his forehead puckered.
"Whose magic covered it up?" Wentz grumbled, his face growing grimmer by the second.
The volume of the chaos in the observation room mounted as stunned, suspicious, and accusatory voices collided all at once.
Jiya looked utterly shaken. "I...I don't remember!"
Amidst this, I searched for Vaheed in the cell. I could kiss him for his ability to uncover the truth, regardless of what the consequences were.
He was rubbing his jaw, and the corner of his lips curled upwards in amusement. His harlequin greens toggled from one face to the other until they landed on me. His smile faltered, and his face fell into a rueful expression.
“Are you truly okay?” he asked, voice thick with mournful compassion. Always so protective. “I should have been there when all this shit started.”
I shook my head and gave him a soft, understanding smile. “Don’t put that on yourself. We were both struggling in different places. I’m just grateful that we both made it through. We’re together again. Besides, you're ridding me of a major headache.”
“What is that famous saying?” Vaheed simpered. “Shake the jar, and the snake will come out.”
Suddenly, a strong homicidal intent rose within me, and I felt like I could kill someone. I scrunched my face, feeling a kind of fire in my veins.
It wasn't mine. I gasped in recognition. It was Valen.
I steered my gaze his way, my stomach twisting knowing his other bond was at work.
Valen glared at Jiya, his fury boiling. "You let someone mark you?"
"What? Of course not!" Jiya lashed out, gripping both sides of her head with her back still pinned to the steel wall.
"When did someone mark you?" Valen roared, the sound vibrating in the walls. He trembled with fists clenched so hard his knuckles were bleach-white, his aura flaring. “Answer me!”
He sounded so betrayed.
"I-I can't remember!" Jiya’s lips quivered uncontrollably as her breathing grew frantic. Her gaze dropped to the floor, her hands fumbling over each other, twisting restlessly. "Someone...someone must have played a dirty trick," was her excuse.
Valen sighed raggedly, sweeping both hands through his hair. He glared at her, and she craned her head to the side, crimping her shoulders to her ears in an attempt to avoid his eyes in every way.
The mottled red in his eyes unsettled me. I couldn’t tell what grated him more, the lie or the mark?
The weight of Valen’s wrath made the air heavy, thick enough to choke.
Thinking quickly, I dashed to his side. I wrapped my arms around his waist, settling my cheek against his arm to keep him from teleporting into the cell.
“Guh.” His body jerked instantly, a shuddering reaction from the bond. He looked down at me with burning vermilion eyes that flickered with his emeralds piercing through.
My touch was stealing fractions of his rage, lessening the tightness in every muscle of his body. And I was grateful he didn't pull away. He stayed put.
“You meddled with witches. You deceived the council,” Elder Victor recited scornfully. “You defiled the royal bond. You compromised the integrity of the royal selection by concealing information essential to your fitness as Queen.”
“But Victor, the prophecy…” Elder George cut in hastily.
“Pure light destroys evil,” Marlena pointed out, looking at their Lunairess like she sicked her to the stomach. “It doesn't partner with it.”
“It's a simple slip,“ Alpha Aughi advocated desperately, rubbing at the fringes of his wolf-cut ash blond hair . “It doesn't take away from her calling.”
“She…” Elder Victor enunciated thick and heavy, “...was duty-bound to maintain honesty before the Council and the crown. The purity and honor expected of the moon-blessed one were desecrated by that forbidden magic.” His tone got harsher and angry. “It’s an utter violation of the trust the realm placed in her. They saw her as our best hope to win the war. Now this!”
“How could someone chosen by the Moon fall so far?” Marlena questioned thoughtfully. “She knew better.”
Elder Jacob’s brows pinched in disappointment but remained silent.
“If you have an excuse, speak now, Jiya,” Elder Sybil entreated, placing both hands on the mirror, peering into the cell.
“There's nothing that can excuse that mark.” Elder Victor threw his hands up in the air. “It’s a disgrace. Another disqualification.”
Then Jiya’s eyes flicked up. She pointed straight at me, and I stiffened.
“Raina’s a paranoid bitch.” She blamed, her breath shallow and uneven. "This is her fault!"
“How?” I stared and deadpanned, "I don’t have fangs to mark you. Neither magic, for that matter."
Always working so hard to trample me.
Jiya's voice cracked. "Every time Valen is with you, I am left unprotected. I am the Lunairess. A lot of people hound me. I can’t go anywhere without getting mobbed."
“Are you saying those people slept with you?” I tilted my head and asked innocently. “That many?”
The room went still.
The irony was laughable.
The realm expected her to embody the moon goddess' virtue. Instead, she dishonored the sanctity of a mate bond. Using magic to disguise the mark so she could continue to be revered was utter mockery to all of us.
It was indeed a hard pill to swallow.