The Mate They Called A Mistake

Veyra's POV 

For a long time no one spoke at the meeting until Baltram spoke.

"Black magic," he said again, slowly, as he tried to test their weight. "Explain yourself, Seer. Exactly what does that mean?

Ilyenne folded her hands in front of her. I mean exactly what I said. "The magic of darkness intruded upon the ceremony, and redirected Rhydian's wolf essence from its intended match to Veyra."

"Forcing it," Ysolde repeated. "So it was not just the essence that selected her.

"No," Ilyenne said. "The bond has a foreign thread in it, a dark one, it shouldn't be there."

"Then it's just the way I've said." I heard Caedmon's voice rise loud and victorious. "She took Elaris' mate with magic. I told you-"

"No, I didn't say that," Ilyenne interrupted her with a level but firm voice. "The bond had been disturbed was what I said, and I have yet to discover where the magic comes from. Its traces were properly covered, I can't read it no matter how hard I've tried."

"Who else would need this but her," replied Caedmon, "whether it is hidden or not? For the rest of her life she's always been jealous of her sister, and now she's standing in her place."

I said, "I didn't do this! I didn't ask for the essence to come to me, I didn't want any of this."

"Liar," Elaris snapped, stepping forward with her hands balled into a fist. "You've always dreamed of what I have, you don't have to pretend otherwise."

"I didn't want this," I said to her squarely. "I never wanted your life Elaris, I just wanted to be left alone."

Ysolde lifted her hands to say, "Enough.  This will not be resolved by accusations. Council, we need to figure out what to do."

The old folk huddled together, purring to each other as I stood in the middle of the  pack with dirt caked on my knees, all of their eyes looking at me. I could hear bits of what they were saying: dangerous, unprecedented, cannot be allowed to stand - and it was all grim news.

As Ysolde resumed to turn and face the group, her face had grown stern.

"It is a decision that the council has made," she said. "Considering the gravity of tampering with the sacred bonding ritual with dark magic, the council suggests for execution."

The thought pierced me like a gunshot. This time it wasn't even the wolf essence that made my knees almost buckle.

"No, I said, but my voice hardly reached their ears. 

"She has not been charged with any crime, none that has been proven yet. "Rhydian's voice rang out among the silent crowd for the first time today. I looked around and found him standing up, his eyes glaring at the council. "The seer herself said the source of the magic is hidden. You can't kill someone for a crime that you haven't confirmed she committed."

"My lord," Baltram replied "The situation is self-explanatory."

"Circumstances are not proof," Rhydian said. "I'll not permit an execution based on speculation."

Caedmon stood up and his jaw was clenched. "What do you think you should do, Rhydian? That we just let her go, after everything she has done to my family's honor?"

"I didn't say that," Rhydian replied. "I said I'm not going to let her die without proof." 

"Then, put her in jail," Elaris said quickly, taking the chance. "At least keep her locked up where she can't cause any more damage if you will not let her die. And in the meantime I'll find proof..."

I heard some people nodding along with Elaris' suggestion, and I saw a few of the elders nodding along. But before Ysolde could speak, another elder, an older man I didn't know, spoke up.

"Before any punishment is determined," he said, "the wolf essence must be taken out of her. It has no place inside her body, no matter how it got there."

Ysolde nodded slowly. "Okay, do the removing ritual."

I didn't get to ask what that meant before Ilyenne was kneeling in front of me again, the charms from before in a tighter circle than they had been. I was bound by two of the council's wolves' arms, and the same cool grip of Ilyenne's fingers was pressing against my chest, over my heart.

"This might hurt," Ilyenne said, her voice lacking sympathy. "Stay still."

It did more than hurt.

Ilyenne started to chant and within me something began to writhe, as if claws were being dragged under my ribs , his wolf panicked in me looking for something to hold on to. I was paralyzed, my body went limp and forward, but the wolves that held me were still holding me. The throb came in waves, each one more intense than the previous, and I found myself crying out, unconsciously.

"Almost there," Ilyenne whispered, but to who? I couldn't tell.

The third wave of pain was as if someone ripped my roots out of me. I cried out, everything blurred around the edges of my eyes, and then suddenly the pressure was gone, and I was shaking and gasping for air on my knees, feeling empty and hollow.

A silver-blue shimmer arose from my chest-the same spark of light I saw as the essence entered me and glide through the circle-hovering in the air above the circle.

I wondered for a few seconds if it was going to just melt away.

Instead, it moved.

It pulled away from me this time, and this time it was faster and more certain and it crossed the space straight to where Elaris stood watching. It was before she could withdraw, before anyone could take any notice, and the essence went out into her chest.

Elaris's knees buckled, one hand reaching to clutch the front of her dress as she cried out, stumbling.

The people were stunned and began to mumble.

Baltram said, in disbelief, "It's back in her. The bond has returned to its rightful place."

"Then it's confirmed," Caedmon said, rounding on me as I was on my knees and shaking "It was her magic that  tampered with the bond. now it's back, and it's time for her to be punished. I demand her execution."

"Father," I was able to say, my voice hoarse. "I told you, I didn't do this."

He didn't look at me. He was observing Ysolde, and the rest of the council, waiting for their agreement.

I looked at the circle and didn't see a single face that would reason  with me for any of the reasons. The look on Rhydian's face was once again impervious, his jaw clenched, his eyes staring somewhere just beyond my view. This time even he did not say anything.

I wouldn't expect anyone to listen to me. No one had ever been going to believe me.

Eventually, it was Caedmon's turn when Ysolde turned to him. "As her Alpha and father, it's your final call, Caedmon. What do you think?"

Caedmon studied me for a long time, and I think that the little pathetic part of me that was still hoping for something different went to sleep in that silence. "Execute her-" 

"I said no." Rhydian's voice forced my father to swallow the rest of his sentence. 

I felt a flash of relief.

"She would be exiled, rejected by this land, and her family. An exile of no return. This is my final decree." Rhydian said, his tone leaving no room for argument.

No one objected. No one at all stood up for me.

I was too weak to argue, too emptied by the ritual to do anything other than a slow, single, nod, and let the wolves let go of my arms. I stood up shakily, not wanting to look at any of them, toward the wooded edge of the field, the wooded edge of the world, the wooded edge of the only home I'd ever known.

I was just a few steps away when I saw Elaris in front of me, her body still as white as paper, her fingers lightly resting on her chest, home to the essence.

She studied me for a moment, there was a coldness in her eyes, a roughness.

"This is not over."