Chapter 112: Hakimi! Stop it!

Vivi's lips trembled before parting slowly, "He. Nicole made me spread the rumors about him because he told me I looked like some girl from the capital with an odd history with Hakimi—"

"Liar!" Nicole's voice shattered through the hall, bouncing around the high ceiling. "You aren't just like her—you are her! You are Marin! You changed your name after everything happened! You have hated Hakimi for years because he spurned you before all of the capital! That is the truth of this matter! You wanted to make him feel the way you did!"

A ripple of shock passed through the gathered nobles, whispers breaking out on every side.

"It's the same lie she told me when she first came to me," Felix said, reaching out to turn Vivi gently by the shoulders. "Tell me one thing, Vivi. Do you know that man standing there?"

Vivi raised her head, looking at Hakimi across the room. "I don't."

Nicole chuckled, a harsh sound from deep within her. "Now I get it. Now I know what this is about. Are you trying to defend her, huh? What did she pay you with? Gold? Land? Maybe even her body?"

"Nothing." Felix's voice remained composed and unaffected. "I don't need anything to help someone who genuinely needs it. She's innocent. She has no connection to Hakimi Morrow, not in her entire life. Her name is Vivienne Bisset, plain and simple. You found her when she was at her lowest, offered her help, and then asked her to spread these rumors for you. You handed her a fabricated story, gave her every detail she'd need to make it convincing, so that when everything eventually came apart, exactly like it's doing right now, you'd have someone else standing here in your place. When she tried to refuse you, you threatened her. She never had a real choice in any of this."

"That's all lies." Nicole breathed heavily, losing control at the fringes. "Maybe you've been part of this from the very beginning yourself. You're the one who staged that fake death in the square. For all we know, you're the one who actually killed those men too. Maybe it's both of you working together."

"I gain nothing from any of this. Can't you see that?" Felix gestured with his hands. "You're the only one who benefits here, start to finish. Or are you going to stand there and claim it's all just coincidence? The rumors targeting Hakimi specifically. Rodrick working directly for your father. You getting close enough to Diana that marriage became an option on the table. Vivi's supposed connection to Hakimi from six years back, conveniently surfacing right when you needed it most."

He looked towards the crowd and raised his voice to be heard. "Do any of you honestly believe people are foolish enough not to see exactly what's happening here? Who the real culprit is?"

Nicole breathed in and out slowly, her jaw clenched. The façade of calm she'd been maintaining started falling apart on her face, and the situation seemed to be beyond anything that mere words could do to fix it. She turned around and handed the pendant over to her mother without meeting her gaze. "Hold onto this for me for a minute."

She took a step forward, and a thin stream of blue light appeared on her skin, traveling down her limbs and flickering on her neck. Her eyes narrowed dangerously towards Felix. "I know for a fact who the perpetrator is."

Felix put Vivi behind him in reflex, and almost immediately after, Nicole came at him in a rush and appeared right in front of him, kicking him right in the side of the head. The force of the blow was so strong, it caused him to stagger to the side, the burning sensation of electricity spreading through the spots of impact, his legs collapsing under his weight and leaving him lying sprawled on the marble floor.

Vivi stood there, shaking from fear.

Nicole held his hand up with a ball of lightning whirling around in the center of it and thrust it towards her head.

Swoosh.

His hand was an inch from hitting her head as Hakimi had crossed the room silently, grabbing hold of Nicole's wrist. "You need to stop there," he spoke in a calm voice.

"Get out of my way." Nicole twisted, reaching with his other hand instead. Hakimi knocked it aside effortlessly and closed his grip around Nicole's throat, lifting him clean off the ground.

"I warned you."

The hall erupted.

"What are you doing to my son!" Geneviève shouted, clutching herself with both hands.

"Hakimi, stop this at once!" Mirabelle turned her attention to the row of knights standing next to the wall. "Why are you not doing anything? Get there and stop him, otherwise, he'll kill Nicole!"

Knights exchanged looks and shifted their boots, but did nothing.

Mirabelle took Osbel's arm, pulling him back violently. "Say something to make them stop him! He's out of his mind!"

Osbel gritted his teeth and nodded curtly to the guards.

Swords sprang out of their scabbards and the knights lunged toward them. Hakimi did not even turn to look at them as he held firmly onto the neck of the man. Water swirled around his boots and formed two serpentine dragons that reached almost two meters in height. They stood there with their wide jaws and dripped water continuously from their fangs.

Knights paused where they were as water dragons loomed before them. Blades in their hands remained poised but no one dared to take the last few steps forward.

Nicole's eyes turned red and veins became visible through the man's body. He started struggling frantically trying to rip off Hakimi's hand while electricity was sizzling through his body and shot directly into Hakimi's hand.

Hakimi didn't flinch, didn't so much as blink, watching the man thrash without a trace of concern on his face.

"Osbel, make him stop!" Mirabelle's voice broke, sounding desperate now, tears streaming down her face. "Make him stop! Right this instant—" She collapsed to the floor in a dead faint just as she finished speaking, servants scrambling to save her too late.

Nicole's body went limp for an instant, but his eyes remained wide and open, staring hard at Hakimi's face. "Tell me one thing, Hakimi," his voice croaked, strained. "Tell me you can't see who this girl is!"

Felix struggled to his feet from the marble, watching as Hakimi kept a perfectly stoic face and Nicole ceased to struggle in his arms. Felix's eyes lifted automatically to the ceiling.

"What the..."

Above their heads, an enormous mass of electricity was gathered in the form of a gaping, jagged mouth filled with the fangs of lightning, hanging in the air above.

"Hakimi! Stop it!"

Hakimi's eyes moved past Nicole's shoulder, and he saw Diana striding across the hallway towards them quickly, skirts bunched up in one hand. He let go immediately, and Nicole fell to the floor with a loud thud, while the electricity surrounding them faded instantly into harmless little sparks that disappeared before hitting the ground.

Diana came to a stop right in front of him, her eyes reddened and lips set into a taut line. Hakimi stared at her silently for a moment, before reaching out to brush a stray lock of hair back from her face. His voice softened considerably as he spoke.

"You can cry now."

Diana wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him tightly as her entire body shook against his chest. "I won't. Not ever." She clung onto him harder, years of memory rushing past behind her closed eyes, forcing the tears back down by sheer will alone.

A knight?

No. He's all I have.

Hakimi leaned forward, and his lips touched her ear. "I have something very important to tell you."