Chapter Ninety-Four - Banishment

Ella's POV

The heavy silence lingering after Caleb's shocking confession pressed down on me like a physical weight.

So she deceived us again.

My thoughts scattered uselessly like frightened birds, too overwhelmed to grasp the enormity of her betrayals.

Kristy, my dearest friend since childhood, had willingly conspired with our vile enemy to have me kidnapped and nearly murdered.

Her jealous obsession with Aiden had twisted into madness, blinding her to all else.

For the last time, I think to give her a chance and believe her. But now I can't believe anything she says.

I stared at Kristy's hunched, wretched form without truly seeing, my vision blurred by rising tears. Grief and rage warred hotly in my breast, choking me. How could she have sunk so low?

"Lock her in the dungeons for now," I finally bit out coldly to the guards who had dragged Kristy here. "We will decide her fate once the shock has passed."

Kristy's head jerked up, eyes wide and pleading. "Ella, please listen! I neve