A fake testimony

THREE

“No."

Farida’s smile thinned slightly. “I said, kneel.”

I looked at her slowly, exhaustion twisting inside me so violently I almost started laughing again. “You stole my ceremony, my mate, my title, and now you want my dignity too?” I tilted my head. “Greedy.”

A sharp murmur spread through the room.

Farida’s eyes hardened. “Mind your tongue.”

“Oh, now we care about manners?” I asked softly. “I've set bones without anesthesia," I said pleasantly. "Delivered breech pups at midnight. Sat with dying men so they wouldn't cross alone." I tilted my head exactly the way she had. "I don't kneel for people who've never bled for anything in their lives."

"Bold words," Farida said softly, "for someone standing in a puddle."

"Bold seat," I shot back, "for someone who didn't earn it."

An elder cleared his throat sharply. "Luna Farida, we apologize for —"

I laughed out loud at that. "You're apologizing to her?" I looked around the room in disbelief. "I'm the one standing here soaking wet being accused of murder and you're apologizing to her?"

Nobody answered, and that silence told me exactly where everyone's loyalty sat.

I turned to face him and spread my hands. "Alright, that's fine. State your evidence. Name your witnesses. Let's begin.Give me the hearing I'm entitled to." I looked around the room slowly. "Or is due process only for people you've already decided are innocent?"

Silence.

Another elder rose slowly from his seat, the entire chamber quieting with him.

“Reylap Stark of Emerald Diamond Pack,” he began formally, “you stand accused of administering wolfsbane during the treatment of Elder Koran, resulting in his death. You are hereby charged with murder, abuse of healer authority, and betrayal of healer neutrality.”

The words echoed through the chamber.

“Wolfsbane." I looked at the elder directly. "I am a surgeon. I have been a surgeon for eight years. Do you know what wolfsbane does to a body at the cellular level?" I didn't wait for him to answer. "I do. Which is exactly why I have never touched it, prescribed it, or kept it within ten feet of my medical bag." I paused. "Whoever wrote that report has never met a real healer."

I turned to Malik, unable to bear it anymore. "A few hours," I said, my voice raw. "I was gone for a few hours, Malik. I left this morning as your mate and came back to find her in my place." I laughed, but there was nothing funny in it. "You marked her. You crowned her. You did all of it on the same day you were supposed to do it with me."

My throat tightened. "Did I mean so little to you that a few hours and someone's word was enough to erase everything?"

He said nothing. The silence burned more than anything he could have said, because I had loved this man. I had built my entire future inside the idea of him. I had turned down other packs, other opportunities, other lives — because I believed in him, in us, in what we were building together.

And he had undone all of it before I even made it home.

"Fine, don't answer. I don't need to know, but just look at me," I whispered, new tears burning at the edges of my eyes and I hated them, hated that he was seeing them, hated that after everything he still had the power to make them fall. "Tell me you believe this. Tell me you looked at eight years of who I am and decided I was capable of murder." I exhaled shakily. "What did she say to you, Malik? What could she possibly have said that was worth all of this?"

He held my gaze for a long moment, then looked away."This isn't about what anyone told me," he gritted.

"Then what is it about?" I snapped harshly.

Malik’s expression hardened. “You will speak respectfully.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “Respectfully?” I repeated. “You replaced me before I even got home.”

Farida shifted beside him delicately, but I ignored her completely this time because if I looked at her too long, I was genuinely afraid I might launch myself across the chamber.

Instead, I kept my eyes locked on Malik.

“This morning, you called me your future,” I said, my breathing uneven now. “Hours later, I come home accused of murder and suddenly she’s sitting beside you wearing my place like it fits her.”

“That has nothing to do with this trial,” Malik replied coldly.

“It has everything to do with this trial!” I exploded.

The force of my own voice startled even me.

I laughed shakily afterward, dragging a hand through my wet hair before looking back at the council. “Do you not see how insane this looks? The timing alone should make you question it.”

“The evidence speaks for itself,” an elder replied.

“What evidence?” I demanded immediately. “Because so far all I’ve heard is gossip dressed up as authority.”

A few people shifted uncomfortably.

Malik remained unmoved. “You were the last healer assigned to Elder Koran.”

“Yes, because that was my job!” I snapped. “Do you know how many patients I’ve treated? If proximity is enough to convict someone, then congratulations, every healer in this kingdom is now a suspect.”

Farida sighed softly like I was exhausting her. “You’re becoming emotional.”

I turned toward her slowly. “You know what? I am emotional.” My voice trembled despite my effort to steady it. “Because my mate replaced me with my sister while my pack calls me a murderer, and somehow I’m still expected to stand here politely while you all destroy my life.”

Farida looked at me for a long moment, then smiled.“You know,” she said softly, “I think this is the first honest thing anyone’s seen from you in years.”

I frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means,” she continued smoothly, “you always hid what you really were behind that healer act. Calm. Gentle. Selfless.” She laughed lightly. “But cruel people are often very good at pretending to care.”

The room shifted.

I felt that tiny change in atmosphere when people wanted to believe something ugly, instantly.

My stomach turned.

Farida tilted her head. “You always had it in you, Rey. I just don’t think any of us realized how dangerous you were until now.”

Something inside me snapped so fast I didn’t even feel it happen.One second I was standing there, and the next, I was moving.

“You bitch—”

Gasps exploded through the chamber as I lunged toward her, pure rage and heartbreak crashing together so violently I couldn’t think straight anymore. Farida jerked backward with a startled sound, and I almost reached her before someone grabbed me hard.

It was Malik!

His hand clamped around my arm, and before I knew it, my body slammed violently against the stone floor hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs.

Oh God. He threw me!

Pain shot through my shoulder, and tears spilled out of my eyes uncontrollably.

The chamber erupted.

“She attacked the Luna!”

“Control her!”

“She’s unstable!”

My pulse roared in my ears. For a second, I couldn’t breathe properly. I just lay there stunned, tears filling my eyes every second, staring with blurry eyes at the stone beneath me while humiliation burned so hot through my body it made me nauseous.

Then I looked up to see Malik standing over me, guarding Farida from me.

The realization hollowed me out. “...You threw me,” I whispered, wrecked.

Malik’s expression remained cold. “You forced my hand.”

I swallowed hard and slowly pushed myself upright, one hand still pressed subtly against my stomach before I forced it away. Nobody seemed to notice except Farida, whose eyes flicked downward briefly before narrowing almost imperceptibly.

Panic crawled up my throat. I had only found out three weeks ago. I hadn’t even had time to decide how to tell him yet. Part of me had wanted it to be perfect.

But..now? I don't know what our fate will be. I wiped off my tears with shaky hands.

An elder stood abruptly. “This behavior is further proof of instability—”

The chamber doors burst open, and everyone turned sharply.

A woman appeared by the door. She was old, small and walked with a slight tremble in her hands that made her look harmless,and I recognized her immediately.

She's Maya, the herb trader from the outer market. I had bought feverroot from her twice, maybe three times, always in a hurry, always on my way to someone who needed me.

She didn't look at me when she walked in, and that alone told me everything.

The elder gestured toward her. "State your testimony."

Testimony?? What??

Maya clasped her hands together and spoke to the floor. "She came to me. Weeks ago, saying she needed something strong." She paused. "I knew what she was. Respected healer. So I trusted her."

"That's correct," I said carefully. "I bought feverroot —"

"She asked for wolfsbane," Maya said quietly.

The room erupted.

"That is a lie." My voice cut clean through the noise. "I asked for feverroot and Boneset.. I have never once —"

"I told her I didn't produce it anymore," Maya continued, still not looking at me. "But she kept coming back. Kept asking." Finally she looked up, and her eyes were wet in a way that chilled me. "I trusted her with my grandchildren. She healed my youngest boy." Her voice broke perfectly on cue. "And she used that trust to get what she wanted from me."

The silence that followed was the loudest thing I had ever heard. No..no!

This isn't happening.