Audrey abruptly stood up from the ground. Her legs were still weak and they wobbled on her way up. She glanced at her father and mother for all of three seconds before she turned to face Florence and walked in her direction.
"One would need mana to do this, quite a lot of it and as you all like reminding me, I just do not at the moment." That part stung on a whole other level because she was just admitting what she herself did not want to hear and adding to the Mostis' ego.
"And also, that is not my family crest burnt into the bedding." She pointed her finger to the destroyed piece of furniture. Sure enough, the Mosit crest was burnt into the ruined bedding.
Augusto's face blanched. His mother gnashed her teeth and glared at him while Rosalia and Lucia feigned absolute shock. The only true emotion was on Alanic's face. First was shock, then disbelief followed by a dawning of realization.
She looked at Augusto and Rosalia, their father had just arrived. "And Rosalia, Augusto thanks for the triggle juice. If it were not for you two then the greenhouse would be burned to ashes by now. So I guess that was a good thing, right?"
Florence stiffened. The sight of Florence's composure chipping away was a true delight. If only she could see both Silas and Wren as well. It would have made this all the more sweeter.
"What is going on here? And what is this about triggle juice?" Mr Mosit asked grimly. The short redheaded man turned his brown eyes to Audrey. "And why would the greenhouse have been burnt to ashes?"
"It is just probably more nonsense, do not listen to her." Florence quickly answered. Her ginger feline familiar hissed.
"Oh, Dear sweet Florence over there was trying to perform a summoning and you know how terrible she is at those." She smiled sweetly. "Silly girl drew seven fire glyphs instead of one."
A chorus of gasps and a swear went off but Audrey continued. "One would wonder what she was trying to summon or if it was just another callous mistake."
A roar came from the back of the crowd. A path instantly cleared for the owner.
"Enough! I will not let you accuse or insult my daughter any longer! I will get the truth out of you, you useless thing!"
Audrey did not even flinch when she saw the bolt or when it came in contact with her. Florence's father, Vist senior, was a balding witch, dark hair almost entirely gone with hard grey eyes.
He was famous for his firm, if not exceedingly strict, stance on discipline and the use of truth spells. If you were lying in any way, the bolt from his spell would have been just the same as regular lightning. Excruciating and even deadly. Seeing no initial reaction, the seasoned witch poured more juice into the spell.
When Vist senior saw no effect whatsoever and everyone present saw the exact same thing, he let go and turned sharply to his daughter. Florence looked pale and as stiff as a board. Her grey eyes filled with fear.
"Florence, what kind of summoning were you trying to perform?" her father asked, sinisterly calm.
Florence remained silent. If she answered the question, then she would be punished by the clan council and if she said it was a mistake, a severe miscalculation on her part then she would be shamed in front of everyone present. Either way, she was going to receive punishment from the council and her father.
"Answer Florence!"
The order was like a flick of the wrist. "I was trying to summon a woodland nymph from the far west. Intended to use only one, it was a gross miscalculation on my part–"
A hard slap to her face abruptly put an end to her sentence. It was her own fault, she was trying to cover up her actions with a terribly poor lie. Even if your primary mana element was fire, everyone knew you could not summon a woodland nymph with fire. There was a reason every witch had a familiar. Florence hardly knew a thing about glyphs and summonings to know that. She just took what Audrey had said and used it to badly concoct her fib.
She had not been trying to summon anything nymph, she had wanted to summon beings from hell itself.
Florence clutched her left cheek. Audrey could make out her tears from where she was. She did not allow herself to feel sorry. The bitch deserved it. "Who attempted that summoning with you?"
"Fath–"
"Do not try to lie to me again Florence! Tell me the truth or I will give you another hard slap!" He seethed. "Who. Attempted. That. Summoning. With. You? Tell me! Tell me right now!" he shouted.
"Silas and Wren." she hurriedly squeaked out, shielding her face from anymore of her father's intended onslaught.