William's pissed off face on the witness' stand mirrored mine when our eyes meet. I gave him a small smile and he returned it right away, the mischief building inside himself like a wildfire in a summer forest. For the last half an hour, my mother's team of prosecutors have listed all the accusations brought to Asher, which included a mild violation of the hunters-shifters agreement that forbids them from interfering in our hunts. I dumbly raised my hand at that, as I was listed as a witness too, but I was dismissed by my mother's scorching look and Asher, who pulled my hand into his and whispered me to remain calm. He wasn't worried in the slightest, and now that I know the truth, I am not either. I only want to see the outcome of this charade, which my mother clearly planned to work out in favour of our next mission.
"Sir Sappington, the accusation claims that you were hospitalised following Prince Asher Silveira's attack," says the blonde prosecutor in a formal tone, parading in front of my friend. "Is it true?"
"Why do you, prosecutors, always ask witnesses questions they can only answer with 'yes'?" William replies in a careless voice like he didn't give a flying crap about this trial. "Just an honest curiosity."
"You were attacked by one of our allies," continues the woman, totally ignoring his words. William only loses a laugh at the lack of caring the prosecutor is showing in the witness' declaration. A classical hunters' trial, then. "This is a direct violation of..."
"Oh, please don't start reciting laws now, I've heard the drill before," says Will, his boredom clear in his tone and I could swear a tinge of annoyance broke on the blonde's perfectly neutral face. "As I stated before, it was just a misunderstanding. We've grown past it." As he speaks, his eyes gleam to mine, my heart blooming at his words. Yes, we are past it.
We even had breakfast together this morning, after Asher and I arrived in Boulder. He and Jonathan let us know that the trial is scheduled to overlap with the first battle of the semifinals, which Asher was in. But after a call to his father, they agreed to have Hayder and Thalia in the first round. I still can't understand why my mother is trying to mess with Asher's competition, but I'll have plenty of time to ask her all sorts of questions when I go home.
After a few other rounds of useless questions from the prosecutor, the judge told us to leave so the jury could analyse everything. We were given a fifteen minutes break, during which we gathered in the small patio in front of the court. It had a couple of benches and a table between them. I sat next to Asher, Bee and Chase next to us. William and my brothers took the seats in front of us.
"Prepare yourselves, Ally," says Jeremy and I raise my eyes to meet his. "I saw mum exiting with the jury on our way out. You know what that means."
That whatever the jury will say, I'll have to stop Asher from contesting it. If mother risked being seen going after the jury, then it has something to do with the mission. And I have a thousand ideas about what the sentence will be, and none will be something Asher will accept. Because, if I know my mother at all, anything she'll force the jury to agree on will end with him and I separated. I only hope that she won't outdo herself and steal the trip to Sydney from me too. But it won't, because she already has Thalia coming with me there, and the Lycan won't risk spoiling her relationship with the hunters for someone like me. Even if she appeared slightly worried about my one-way trip to Hy-Brasil, she will follow the orders nonetheless. Like any other hunter. Including me.
I don't know what Asher thought of my brother's words, but he didn't say a word to me as we waited there for the minutes to pass. Neither when we were back in the courtroom, or when the jury appeared again. He only stood in silence and I kept myself from talking too.
"The jury has debated," the judge says tension builds inside my bones. "Although the fight between Prince Asher Silveira and Sir William Sappington has been unintentional, the Lycan Heir still violated the accords between the shifters and humans by attacking a hunter during his mission. So the jury decided that he'll have his Heir benefits revoked, as of today."
It wasn't that bad, as Asher only had a couple of months left of his Heir clearance left. After the finals, when a new King will be chosen, the Lycans who participated will no longer be Heirs, but normal, or royal, depending on their families, shifters. No more travelling without restrictions, residing in whatever pack they wished and... no more immunity for his mate. As the condemning knocking sound beat into the room, my eyes flashed to my mother. She didn't even look at me, even if she was aware I was watching her. She knew I figured out that the whole point for this trial was to avoid a war with the Lycans after I die in Hy-Brasil. Because if Asher was no longer recognised as an Heir, then the hunters had no legal obligation to protect me. Clever, mother.
Everyone stands and I storm out of the room, not stopping until I reached our car and waited for Asher to get us the hell out of here. It was fun, but now he had to get to that damn competition before they disqualify them. Chase has accompanied us here so, if we do arrive late, they'll have to delay the match for a couple of minutes.
It was again abnormally hot for November and I started looking for Asher because I really wanted to get inside the car and turn the A/C on. He was just behind me but stopped for a moment to discuss with some other Lycans that come to support him, before coming to the car. I got on the passenger's seat, Chase and Bee jumping into the backseats. Asher started the car and we passing so fast through Boulder that I barely blinked before we were outside the city limits.
"Don't worry, my love, this won't stay like this," he assures me and I must've looked as miserable as I felt. But not for the reasons he thought.
"I'm just worried we may not get to the pack in time," I tell him. "This trial was a mockery, it doesn't affect us in any way."
"Excepting the fact that you'll have to get a passport for our trip to Sydney," comments Chase. "I hope King Thiago will take care of this bullshit fast."
"He will," says confidently Asher. "If he didn't already. Someone must've told him about it by now, I'm sure he'll have figured something out by the time we get to the pack."
"You know, it's not so shameful to get a passport. I have one, Bee has one..."
"I wasn't talking about Asher, Aline. He still has diplomatic clearance because he is the Prince of Lycans, but you don't. You didn't have a mating ceremony, so, even if you're mates, you're not a royal yet."
"The trial did nothing to me," Asher explained and I abstained from swearing out loud. I was stupid to believe they wouldn't figure it out. "It was a direct attack on you."
I say nothing, so Asher glances at me for a second, before turning to the road ahead. "But you already knew that."
"I knew it was a trial for me, not you. But my mother couldn't do me more harm without forsaking me, and that would trash the DeGrey's family reputation. Trust me, she did try to do worse but it was the least she could manage without me bringing shame to the family."
And it wasn't a lie at all, because it all made sense now. The forsaken act my brother found, my transfer papers to Hy-Brasil, it was all side plans if the trial didn't work accordingly. Anything she could think of to get me away from Asher long enough to take part in this mission. The question is, why bother with me so much? Why fight so eagerly to send me there? It surely isn't an assassination plan, as Jez is tagging along, but I just wonder why she particularly paired us together.
At least I'll have something to occupy my time between training in London.