Chapter 64 Public humiliation 1

Chapter 64: Chapter 64 Public humiliation 1

Talia’s POV

The hall was in total chaos.

Shouts bounced off the walls, and glasses shattered somewhere in the back. Someone was crying, and someone else was screaming orders. I could not tell which voice belonged to who, because it all blended together into one loud, angry sound. The chaos was like a storm, and like the inside of my head.

I held onto the edge of the table, tight.

Wolves shouted and pointed and pushed to get closer. Servants ran in every direction, and Celeste was crying, and grabbing at her mother’s arm, begging her to stop.

But Vivienne did not stop.

Celeste’s voice cracked. "Mother, people are staring. Please, sit down, and let me take you to the room."

Vivienne shook her head, and her eyes were wild. "No, I will not sit down. I want everyone to see, and I want them to know what she did."

"She did nothing," Celeste said. "You did this to yourself."

Vivienne’s head snapped toward her daughter. "You dare blame me? We planned this together, Celeste, and you knew about everything. So don’t you dare speak to me that way, child."

Celeste’s face went pale and her body swayed like she might fall.

She looked like a tree about to break in the wind. Her hands were shaking, and her lips were moving, but no sound came out. She had planned to destroy me, and she had helped her mother pick the poison, but she had not planned for this.

She had not planned to be exposed, to be seen, and to be hated. Now everyone was looking at her, and she was alone.

She looked around, as wolves were staring at her, and whispers were spreading fast through the crowd.

"She helped her mother?"

"They planned it together?"

Celeste stepped back in fear, and her hands were shaking. "Mother, stop, please. You are not yourself."

"I am more myself than I have ever been," Vivienne said with a smile.

She stood in the middle of the crowd, with her dress torn, and her hair that had started falling from its pins. Her face was flushed and slick with sweat, her eyes were glassy, and her words were slurred. But she was still standing.

She looked around the crowd with a big smile on her face, like someone who had finally lost her mind. Then she saw me.

When her eyes locked onto mine, the glassiness in them faded and her smile disappeared, as something sharp and cruel took its place.

"You," she hissed.

She started running to my table. "You ruined everything!"

Her nails scraped the air inches from my face, but I did not flinch and I did not move, because she was blocked off and pushed back by Kaelen’s guards.

"You think you have won?" she screamed. "You think this is over?"

She tried to grab me, but the guards tightened their grip on her arms. She twisted and fought, but they pushed her further away from me, before letting her go.

She arranged her dress and looked up at me. "I should have killed you when you were born," she spat. "I should have also let you burn in that fire with your mother."

The words ’the fire’ and ’my mother’ hit me like a punch to the chest, and I could not breathe. She had been there, she had watched, and she had let it happen.

My hands clenched into fists, and my nails bit into my palms.

The pain kept me grounded, kept me from screaming, and kept me from running across the room and clawing her eyes out.

My blood ran cold.

"What did you say?" I asked.

Vivienne smiled. It was a terrible smile, twisted and cruel. "You heard me."

The hall went quiet, as wolves leaned in, straining to hear.

"The fire at Cresswood," someone whispered. "She started the fire?"

She lunged at me again, and her fingers reached for my throat, but she never touched me.

Kaelen’s guards moved faster than I could see, as they grabbed her arms and held her back, not letting her go this time. She struggled against them, kicking and screaming, with her heels scraping against the marble floor.

"Let me go! Do you know who I am?"

But no one answered, or moved, and everyone was watching.

Vivienne stopped struggling, and her body went limp in the guards’ arms. Her head dropped forward, and her shoulders shook.

Then she began to laugh wildly, with a cold and broken sound that echoed through the silent hall.

Wolves exchanged glances. Some looked horrified, and others looked fascinated. But no one looked away.

Alpha Aldric stood at the center of the hall, with his face hard, and his eyes cold. He did not interrupt Vivienne’s display. He just watched.

Kaelen stood beside me, and his hand was on my back. Through the chaos of the moment, I had not noticed him move closer. It was when I felt a hand rubbing my back that I paid attention to him.

I felt relaxed with him by my side, but Vivienne was my main focus at the moment, as she continued to confess.

"Her mother," Vivienne said again, louder this time. "I tried to kill her mother."

Edmund stumbled forward. "Vivienne, what are you saying?"

She turned to look at him, and her eyes were full of contempt. "I am saying that your first wife did not die in an accident. I made sure of it."

Edmund’s face crumbled, and he looked like he had been punched in the chest.