“You don’t need to do that—”
“It’s not like I can leave anyway, Raven. I’ll keep working on him. I know I can get him to let you go…eventually.”
She was wrong about that. Even if he loved her, married her, had a family with her, he would never change his mind. Fender wasn’t like me. He was stubborn. If he made a decision, he would never change it. After everything Raven did to this camp, he would never let her go—ever. Honestly…I couldn’t blame him.
Raven sighed quietly. “Thank you, Melanie.”
“I told you we shouldn’t have come back to the camp.”
“I would have done it anyway, and I know you would have too.”
“I told Magnus that you saved his life,” Melanie whispered. “But I’m not sure if he believed me.”
Raven took a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter. He won’t forgive me.”
“He will. The fact that he’s still protecting you… He will.”
She started to cry again. “You don’t know him like I do. He’s a good man, so he’ll be there for me…but what we had… It’s over.”
“I didn’t know you felt that way about him.”
“I…I didn’t know either.”
I kept my stare in place, refusing to feel anything for her, to react internally to what she said.
“He told me he was tortured because of what I did.” Her voice shook, like she could feel the pain she didn’t even know I’d experienced. “He told me the guards turned on him. One of them tried to kill him, and I didn’t know what to do…so I tried to push Magnus out of the way…and the guard stabbed me instead.”
“Oh my god.” Clothes started to rustle, like Melanie was looking for the wound. She must have found it because she said, “Jesus…”
“It doesn’t hurt anymore. I’m fine.”
“And he still won’t forgive you?” she asked incredulously.
Raven was quiet for a long time. “I have a feeling what he went through is much worse.”
It’d been more than five minutes, so it was time to end this. I pushed the door open. “Come on.”
Melanie stood in front of her sister, their hands clasped together. She didn’t turn away because she wasn’t ready to let Raven go. She started to cry again, like it was too hard to leave her sister there.
“Don’t make me ask again.”
Raven cupped her cheeks and forced a smile through her tears. “I’ll be okay, Melanie.”
Melanie released a shaky breath. “I love you…”
“I love you too.” Raven hugged her tightly, supporting her like she was the mother and Melanie was the child. “We will get out of this someday. I truly believe that.” She rubbed her sister’s back and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
Melanie nodded then pulled away. She didn’t say goodbye before she walked out of the cabin.
I locked the door behind her then escorted her to my brother’s cabin, walking in front, ignoring the sound of her sniffles. By the time we got to the cabin on the other side of the clearing, her tears had been silenced.
I nodded to the door at the top of the stairs before I turned away.
She reached out and grabbed me by the arm. “Wait.”
I twisted out of her grasp because I didn’t want her to touch me.
With watery eyes, she stared at me. “Thank you…for protecting her.”
I gave her a blank expression because her gratitude meant nothing to me.
“The only reason I could walk out of that cabin is because I know you’ll keep her safe.”
Eleven
Bois de Boulogne
Alix didn’t attack me, but I knew he was pissed off.
He’d expected my brother to punish me for my actions.
Not only did he pardon them, but he agreed to let me remove her from the camp. Once Alix knew that, he would probably lose his shit.
Fender was only there for a day to see the state of the camp with his own eyes. Melanie stayed in his cabin and wasn’t permitted to visit her sister again. I didn’t tell Raven what I had asked of my brother because I dreaded the conversation.
She and I didn’t talk, not even after she saw her sister.
We continued to pretend the other didn’t exist. She faced the wall while she slept and I faced the other way, so we never touched throughout the night.
I looked forward to leaving the camp just so I would have my own bed again.
I hated sleeping with people, even with my lovers. It could be a king-size bed and she could be on the opposite side, but I still hated it. The touching, the breathing, the closeness, I hated it. I always moved into another bedroom when the sex was over. They were used to it and didn’t ask any questions.
I hated being asleep with someone else in the room.
I just couldn’t do it.
I did it now because I had to. And I did it once before…because it was different at the time.