Chapter Eighty-One
Fiona’s Point of View:
The thought that a sibling I didn’t even know existed hated me already was also big in my heart. There is also no guarantee that the absence of both of them is related.
Everybody is waiting for me to say something, pretending they’re talking with each other while casting me little looks.
While I appreciate the fact that they’ve given me a little time to try and process all this, I know there’s no time for this. We needed to work on finding our lost family members, Veronica’s foster daughter and my own adopted mother.
I stirred from my place on the chair where I had dropped after hearing what Veronica had to say about my process of leaving my place of birth.
There were still questions, and some missing spots in her story, but that could wait. For now, I have a pressing question.
By the time I’m ready to start talking, everybody is already focused on me, confirming my initial suspicion that they were just pretending to be busy with other things.
“So, why can’t you call home? I mean, you said the inner council knew that you brought us here, right? That should mean you’re in the clear.”
Veronica, looking exhausted and defeated on the floor, chuckles wryly “I haven’t remained here of my own volition. If it had been left to me, I’d have taken you both back sooner, as soon as there was calm over there.”
However, for one, my secret about what I did to the princess wasn’t as well-kept as I thought; the way I had my way of getting information, another person found out about how I had left her behind to struggle with a slave girl who had been trying to get out at that time too.
The person who got the information didn’t just sit on it as I did with the ones I got. She blackmailed me with it, made me leave Dark, and promised not to come back.
I didn’t think much about this at that time; I was troubled in my mind, and I also saw it as a chance to just come over to the human world to lie low with Lawson.
Besides, I was worried about my reputation and the taint it would cast on my family. After making me leave, she promptly took over my position, and she’s kept it since then, getting more powerful and sure-footed.”
Tristan burst out in surprise “You mean it?”
Veronica replies with another sad smile, “Yes, the new commander in my place blackmailed me out.”
“So, you’re scared of going back because you’re thinking about the agreement you had?”
Trying to wrap my head around all the interconnected palace politics and the web of lies, envy, and deception.
Veronica, however, seems to find something of offense in my statement because she replies a little bitterly.
“My fear might seem a little unfounded to you, but I know the high-ranking people in Darkness, would take this chance to put down my family and I would lose any legendary authority I might have had. They’re very brutal and merciless.”
All this talk about mercilessness and displacement turns me off further from wanting to go there, ever. I wonder if it’s possible to solve this without the involvement of those people.
I said to the dejected woman sitting there, “But then, it’s your word against hers.”
“And her word means a million more than mine, I assure you,” Veronica is quick to reply.
“Besides, I’m not sure if the slave girl is still around to bear witness against me; her word, even if it’s little, would count for something.”
“Besides,” Tristan pitches in.
“It’s not you either, it’s all of us. The six of us, we must take care of both of you,” Molly pipes in, her agreement with a nod, while Drew lifts his bottle in silent cheers.
James’ Point of View:
Tristan got it right, actually “the 6 of them”. I’m not sure what I’m doing here.
I know I already told Eleanor that I’d rather stay here, but the slight amount of courage I had summoned to say that had since evaporated.
Now, everyone is making plans on how to catch a little shut-eye, so they can start full plans the next morning.
They don’t have enough room for everybody because Veronica and Fiona have to go back to Veronica’s place, with strongman Tristan to guard them. I know it’s for their safety, but I can’t help being bitter. Fiona hasn’t even come over to say hi.
As if she could read my mind, she came over to my side, sitting beside me with an apologetic look.
I can’t stay mad at her for long, of course, but I keep my face expressionless. The longer I can pretend to still be miffed, the longer I can keep her by my side.
“I’m sorry, James, for stressing you and Eleanor about this whole mess, she says, gesturing with her right hand in the air.”
As she does this, I notice the indents in her palms and realize she is at it again. Anytime she’s stressed or worried, she digs her fingernails into her palms to relieve herself of the tension.
I reach for her hands and start to massage them, without thinking about it.
I put all the words I can’t say into it, kneading the little spots with light pressure and pushing back the temptation to press my lips to them one by one.
I’ve decided to push back any confession of feelings in the meantime. What Fiona needed right now was friendship, not a relationship and I would be there for her, regardless of how rotten it made me feel inside.
Done now, I put my hands down and looked up at her face, only to see it brimming with tears. “Did I hurt you?”
She shakes her head twice and just keeps sobbing noiselessly. The others seemed to have noticed what was going on at our end and looked away awkwardly.
I took Fiona in my arms for a hug, wishing I could comfort her better, wishing I could make all this go away.