Anybody But You

54

Chapter Fifty-Four

Vibe: Stockholm Syndrome by One Direction

"...About that third party,"

Alice hummed in a small voice, seeing Narcisse's sickly paled and knowing face from the royal balcony where the royal family could watch the courtroom trials if they so pleased.

"He wasn't exactly in his right mind..." she bit her bottom lip, wanting to disappear as the king not once took his angry eyes off her—so much for power over the king. "I used a spell on him to make him comply. He had no idea and believed he was doing what was right for the good of the kingdom." She lied, knowing Godric would try to disprove her confession if she didn't make it look like his quick-to-help trait was all due to a spell he was under.

The word 'witch' was even louder now. She was surprised they weren't shouting their demands to burn her yet.

"I have done a lot of inexcusable things during my regrettable moment of insanity." She had the gull to stick to the plea, clenching her hands at her side in determination, "However, I do not believe anyone else should be questioned due to my actions against the royal orders during those regrettable times." Her vibrantly blue eyes stared directly into the king's dark ones. "The knight, Godric Pernelle, is innocent, your majesty. His only crime is coming to know me."

Silence followed as she refused to avert her gaze; silently begging the king himself to let Godric go so she wouldn't have to use the last card in her hand.

Meeting her piercing gaze, Alice could see where Narcisse had gotten his inquisitiveness from. The powerful man looked like he was trying his best to figure her out, growing frustrated as he continued to fail with each passing second she met his eyes without backing down.

His teeth ground together as his lips twitched up annoyedly. Without looking away from her, he broke the silence in the room, "By the orders of the king," he began, making Alice close her eyes in hope—letting him win the staring contest, "After having heard his statement and agreeing with the defendant that he is indeed under her manipulation: Sir Godric Pernelle will be sent to the purification centre for five days." His terrifyingly powerful voice practically vibrated the entire courtroom as he gave a royal order. "On his return, due to the rare and unavoidable nature of the circumstances...

"...he will be retested and reinstated as a royal knight."

~*~*~

A.N.

That's right! 1 down, 1 more to go. We're all rooting for you, Alice!

Thank you for reading and supporting my characters!! Lmao at my song choice, idk why but it makes me laugh thinking about Godric being under Alice's little witchy spell. The dude is like ... hard smitten with her. *sigh* she don't need no magic spell to make him fall to his knees

I have two book covers I created, which one do you like best (if you like them at all)? As you can see, I'm still trying to find that perfect cover but it's so hard.. BUT on a happy note, I think I'm in love with the font finally (I used a similar one on an aesthetic collage and I ended up loving it) ... so we're almost there.

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