“Liz, do you think you can make it over here, or do you need some help?”
I hesitated. The doc immediately rose, offered me a hand, and then pulled me easily to my feet. He kept hold of me until I was steady, and remained close as I hobbled over to Aiden, before he moved back to his own chair.
Larissa’s lip curled into something resembling a snarl, and she made a hawking sound in the back of her throat. Aiden hooked his foot under the chair and with very little effort, sent her thumping onto her back. She grunted and then swore, and the globule that would have been aimed my way instead went high, and landed in the middle of her chest.
Aiden made no move to right her chair. He simply crossed his arms and said, “Try anything like that again, and I’ll add additional assault charges to the attempted murder ones.”
Her only response was another low growl and, just for an instant, her features became more wolf than human. But she didn’t fully change, and it took a moment to realize why. The chair she was tied to wasn’t plain metal; it was silver coated. It was a metal that was deadly to wolves; if embedded into their flesh, it ate away at skin and muscle even as it poisoned their blood. It was part of the reason why silver weapons were banned in reservations, and why some even went as far as banning combs and jewelry.
But aside from the whole poisoning issue, silver could also be used as a restraint, as it prevented the wolf from shifting from one form to another. While Larissa was clothed, her bare arms were tied behind her, which meant her skin was pressing against the silver-coated backrest. The silver obviously wasn’t strong enough to immediately poison her, but it was preventing her from attaining wolf form.
Which was a damn good thing, given her expression very much suggested my throat would be the first one she’d rip out.
But why? That was the puzzle needing an answer right now.
I met Aiden’s gaze. “I can try a truth spell, if you’d like. It can sometimes be hit-and-miss, depending on the mental strength of the recipient.”
“Do it. If it fails, we can always try the rat option.” Though his voice was flat and oh-so serious, humor sparkled in his eyes. “Do you need a hand with anything?”
I shook my head. “Just step back a bit to ensure you’re not caught in any backwash.”
He immediately did so. I took a deep breath to center myself and to gather energy. Once calm had descended and the awareness of those watching had faded somewhat, I slowly circled the fallen Larissa, softly murmuring the incantation, building up the layers of magic and then pinning them to the chair. Spell stones would have provided a more secure anchor, but the silver coating on the chair was a reasonable enough substitute. The spell might fracture if she moved around too much, but given how tightly she was trussed, that hopefully wouldn’t be a problem.
I closed off the spell and then stepped back and activated it. The air shimmered briefly and energy pulsed, a soft heartbeat that told me the spell was successful.
I glanced at Aiden. “Ask your questions.”
He stood next to me again, got out his phone, and hit the record button. “Did you kill Aron Marin?”
Larissa’s face screwed up as she fought the spell. She opened her mouth, shut it again, and then all but growled, “No, I fucking did not.”
A murmur of disbelief ran around the room. Aiden’s expression didn’t change. “You threatened revenge on his family, did you not?”
“Yes, but why would I kill Aron? He didn’t have anything to do with it. If I was going to kill anyone, it would have been his bitch of a mother.” Her gaze cut across to the elders. “She’s the one who stopped me from marrying Garrett.”
“And yet you were seen with both Aron and Marlinda the night they were both murdered.”
“Of course, but I wasn’t alone—a whole bunch of us went out for dinner.”
“Was that where you discovered that Aron and Marlinda were lovers, and you became so enraged that you killed them both?”
“Why would I care if they were fucking each other?” Larissa bit back. “Not that they would have been. Marlinda was a lesbian. She wouldn’t have touched Aron with a ten-foot pole.”
“She was having an affair with Luc, so she wasn’t a lesbian,” I commented.
Larissa shrugged. “So she was bi—who really cares? The fact remains, she wouldn’t have done Aron.”
“And yet the autopsy results show that they did indeed have sex before they died.”
“Again, so? I didn’t kill them, Ranger.” She struggled against her restraints, causing the spell to shimmer in response. It held, but I wasn’t entirely sure how long it would continue to do so if she kept fighting to be free. “I swear on the life of my mother, they were both alive when I left them.”
Another murmur ran around the room, and this time it held an almost unwilling edge of belief.
“Then who did, if not you?”
“I don’t know what killed them. I don’t.”
Meaning, I thought with a half smile, she did know something.