Chapter 397
Three hundred and ninety nine
Emma POV
I didn’t make it back to the bedroom. I turned down a side corridor and slid to the floor, burying my face in my hands. I tried to stay quiet, but my shoulders shook with every breath, and tears slipped through my fingers. I stayed there until I could breathe again.
When I lowered my hands, I stared at the floor and thought about all the years I’d blamed myself for being unlucky in love. I’d wanted someone I could trust. Someone I could let in without paying for it afterward.
And now I had a mate who had managed to make every man before him look merciful.
A rogue.
My family had always found love in unlikely places. Isabella and Wesley were proof of that. Whatever else Isabella had been accused of, her father had come from a respected bloodline, and their story had been allowed to become something worth admiring.
Alexander was different.
What hurt most was his indifference. He didn’t care about me. He looked at me with cold eyes, as if my presence was nothing more than an annoyance he had to deal with. I couldn’t even reject him without making the humiliation public. The severance rite would lay everything before my family: his refusal of me, my mistake in trusting the bond, and everything I’d hoped no one would ever know.
Footsteps stopped beside me. When I looked up, Alexander’s sister stood there with a pad of paper. She looked innocent, but she was still a rogue, and I didn’t want her pity.
She crouched and held out the pad.
In neat handwriting, it said:
Are you okay?
“Do you have a phone charger?” I asked, my voice raw from crying.
She flipped the page and wrote:
I don’t have one. You have to ask my brother.
“Can’t you speak p>
She signed that she was mute.
My heart softened.
I understand sign language, I signed.
Her eyes lit up, and her fingers moved quickly.
That’s cool. How do you know it?
“I had a dog when I was younger. He was born deaf,” I said aloud, since she could hear me.
She smiled and signed back:
You are safe in this house Don’t cry so much. Nobody is going to kill you here. Once our demands are met, you will all go home
Then she signed:
Are you hungry?
My stomach answered for me.
I shook my head.
“I can’t eat your food. I don’t trust it. My cousin’s food was spiked p>
She signed back.
That stuff came from Lucas’s camp. I cook the food here myself. You can stand in the kitchen and watch me make it from scratch if you’re scared.
I hesitated. She was Alexander’s sister, and I still didn’t know her intentions. But there was nothing threatening in the way she looked at me. If she wanted me dead, she hardly needed to earn my trust first.
I wondered if her brother had told her about me.
“Fine. Give me whatever you have p>
I’ll bring a tray to your room. Go rest.
By the time I returned to the bedroom, Anita and Haley were still asleep.
My phone was dead.
I stared at the blank screen.
Ten minutes later, she knocked softly and walked in carrying a large wooden tray. She set down a plate of warm bread and soup and a glass filled with a milky white drink. She pointed to the glass, then pointed to Anita, signing that the liquid would flush the drug out of her system.
I woke Anita and sat her upright on the edge of the bed, then helped her drink the glass.
We ate bread and eggs together. As the warm food settled in my stomach, the exhaustion weighing on my muscles began to ease.
Twenty minutes later, the drink did its job. Anita bolted out of bed, slammed the bathroom door shut, and started retching. The sound filled the room. She stayed there for nearly half an hour before coming out, swearing under her breath.
“What the fuck was in that drink?” Anita demanded, clutching her stomach before running straight back inside.
I stopped in the bathroom doorway. “It was meant to flush out whatever those rogues put in the sweet rolls p>
“How am I supposed to do this with you standing there watching me p>
I turned away but didn’t leave. After another minute, the flushing stopped. When washed her hands at the sink, then leaned against the basin with a heavy sigh.
“At least we’re in a proper room,” Anita muttered, staring at her reflection in the mirror. “We’re being treated like humans instead of cattle because that rogue has a crush on you or something p>
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I winced as another wave of pain hit my chest.
“Please stop saying that p>
Anita chuckled. “Emma, the guy literally dragged us out of a cellar and brought us to a furnished house. Plus I saw the way he kept eye fucking you p>
Tears sprang to my eyes and blurred my vision. “It’s way worse than that, Anita.” I choked on a breath, the words burning my tongue as I forced them out.
“He’s my fated mate p>
Anita gasped like she’d seen a ghost. I crumpled against the wall, sobbing so hard that hiccups rattled my chest. All the fear and shame of the last twenty-four hours poured out of me at once. Anita grabbed my armis and wrapped me in a desperate hug. She was crying too, her tears soaking into my shoulder as she held me close.
“Are you sure?” Anita whispered. “Emma, are you completely sure p>
I nodded against her neck, hiccuping.
“That’s why I slept with him on the island, but I didn’t know he was a rogue p>
Anita squeezed me tighter and buried her face in my hair.
“I’m so sorry, Emma,” Anita sobbed, holding me as I wept. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry p>
A/N
I’m sorry I haven’t been updating the way I should. I really don’t want those of you waiting for the daily uploads to be kept waiting for too long.
I haven’t had the chance to edit the fresh batch yet because today is my birthday, but I’ll get to it as soon as I can so I don’t keep holding you guys up.
Thank you for your patience and for still being here with me.
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Lucia Morh
Lucia Morh is a passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.