"You, Selena, Nova, even his own mother…Who is brilliant in her own category" Nerissa let each name fall like a stone, slow and deliberate. "All of you have been played. He wrapped you in his web of sentiment without you realizing it."
But Nerissa, Still seeing the storm of confusion flickering in her daughter's golden eyes, did not stop. Her voice was calm, yet edged with that dangerous amusement of hers
"You've become blinded by your own cleverness," she said slowly. "Cleverness he knew how to cultivate in you. So blinded that you ignored the small, obvious things the very details that cost you your judgment. That blindness… was your critical blunder."
Her words were not shouted. They didn't need to be. Each syllable struck Celestia harder than a lash.
Nerissa tilted her head, her gaze sharp and unyielding. "Tell me would the Virelan family have allowed you to send Razeal into the Eternal Hold, even if he had begged for it himself?"
