Page 168 of His Ruthless Match

I stared at him, my mind racing. Who the hell was this guy?

The magistrate spoke again, their tone dripping with authority. “Izold Maren, also known as Izo, you are hereby charged with organizing rebels, coordinating attacks within the Crimson Dominion, and interfering with a high-profile human using illegal magic.”

Izo tried to protest, but a gag covered his mouth, and his words came out as a muffled gurgle. The guards held him firm, his arms bound behind his back, his struggles futile.

The magistrate’s voice was cold and unyielding as he stood. “For Izold Maren’s crimes against The Below and the human world, he is hereby sentenced to immediate death by beheading.”

I gasped. Immediate death? Beheading? My stomach twisted as the finality of those words sank in. My gaze flicked to Izo. His pale skin gleamed under the harsh light, and his bound hands trembled. His wide, pleading eyes darted toward Raffaele and Jareth, desperate for mercy he wasn’t going to get.

To my shock, Raffaele stepped forward. My brother, usually the first to demand retribution, the last to show leniency, was about to speak on behalf of the man who had caused so much pain and chaos in our lives. I didn’t know whether to be furious or confused.

The lead magistrate turned his cold gaze to Raffaele, arching a thin brow. “Shadow, do you have anything to add?”

For a moment, I thought he would speak. His lips parted slightly, his eyes narrowing as if weighing the words on his tongue. But then, with a sharp inhale, he clamped his mouth shut and shook his head. I could see the tension in his jaw, the faint flicker of shadows curling tighter around his legs. Whatever he’d considered saying, he thought better of it.

The magistrates gave no indication of approval or disdain. They simply gestured to the guards, who dragged Izo to the center of the room and forced him to his knees. My heart thundered, threatening to break right through my chest as one of the guards unsheathed a blade.

“No,” I whispered.

This was real. This was happening. I tried to look away, but I couldn’t. My eyes stayed locked on Izo. He struggled against his bindings, his muffled cries echoing through the room.

The blade sliced through the air in one clean, brutal arc.

The blade cleaved through flesh and bone with a sickening squelch. Blood sprayed across the floor, pooling beneath Izo’s lifeless body as his head rolled to the side. The air filled with the sharp, metallic tang of blood, and all I could hear was the rushing in my ears.

I fell to my knees, my stomach heaving. My hands pressed against the cold marble floor, trembling as I fought the urge to vomit.

Jareth was there in an instant, his arms wrapping around me, grounding me. “Don’t look,” he murmured, his voice rough but steady. “It’s over.”

But it wasn’t over. Not even close.

Guards moved swiftly to clean up the scene, wiping away the blood as if it had never been there. But the stench lingered, nauseating me. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the spot where Izo had knelt, the dark stain on the floor that no amount of scrubbing could erase from my mind.

The lead magistrate cleared their throat, drawing everyone’s attention back to them. “As I was saying, the second matter that needs to be handled is the sentencing of Eva Delgado for divulging magical intelligence to a high-profile human.”

My head snapped up, my blood turning to ice. “What?” I croaked.

The magistrate ignored me as he snapped his fingers. A guard rolled in a screen, and with a flick of the magistrate’s wrist, a video began to play. My stomach dropped as Genevieve’s face filled the screen. It was a social media post I hadn’t seen.

She smiled nervously, her voice soft but steady. “I want to apologize to all of you for my outlandish behavior. It has been brought to my attention that there is something else at play here, something completely out of my hands. In fact, my behavior was not of my own volition. I’ll share more in the coming days, but just know that I am still the same Genevieve you’vegrown to know over the years. You, my fans, mean more to me than anything in this world. I’d also like to thank my attorney, Eva Delgado, for getting to the bottom of this mess. I couldn’t do anything without her unwavering support and ability to see beyond the obvious to discover the truth.”

The video ended, and silence fell over the room. Blood rushed to my face, and anger coursed through my veins. I pushed to my feet, righteous fury surging through me and burning away the lingering nausea.

“That’s all true,” I said. “Her behavior wasn’t her own. Izo was manipulating and influencing her behavior magically with thatfucking rat!You can’t just silence her and punish me for telling her the truth. This isn’t my fault. I was doing my job—supporting my client, who was being influenced by an out-of-control magical creature in your jurisdiction. If you ask me, this is allyourfault.”

A deadly silence fell over the room, and the air crackled with tension. One of the magistrates leaned forward, his lips curling into a predatory smile. “Shadow, you might want to get your sister under control before we silence her ourselves.”

Raffaele’s dark gaze snapped to mine. The look in his eyes was clear:You’re right, but shut the fuck up.

I ignored it. The fire inside me wouldn’t let me stop. I took a step closer to the magistrates. “You want to silence me because you don’t want to admit that you’ve failed. You allowed this mess to happen. You created the conditions for Izo to exploit your power. And now, you’re trying to pin the blame on me and my client so you can come out of this looking like the heroes.”

“Enough!” one of the magistrates snapped. “You will not speak out of turn in this court.”

But I wasn’t done. Not yet. My voice dropped to a dangerous calm. “If you’re so powerful, why did Izo succeed in the first place? Why was he able to manipulate someone in the humanworld while under your jurisdiction? And if I’m guilty of anything, it’s for exposing the truth and protecting my client. If you want to punish me for that, fine. But don’t pretend this is about justice.”

The lead magistrate’s eyes narrowed. “You tread a dangerous line, Miss Delgado.”

I stood my ground, even as my knees threatened to buckle.