My father cleared his throat again. "Sothing has to be done."
My mind raced, desperately searching for an answer, a solution, anything. But the more I thought, the clearer the horrifying truth beca.
Chloe, who had been fidgeting in her seat, finally spoke, her voice barely a squeak. "Who... who will be the bride?"
My blood ran cold. I stared at Chloe, my heart pounding like crazy. Naturally, she would not want to be the bride of the ruthless Lycan King. With rumors swirling about his brides – beautiful won who beca nothing but chilling statistics, none lasting a moon cycle – a knot of fear tightened in my stomach with every heartbeat.
"It has to be Layla," my father declared.
The world seed to halt at that mont. My na echoed in the vast emptiness that had suddenly opened up inside . No. It couldn't be. This couldn't be happening. Across from , Chloe's eyes were filled with relief.
"?" My voice, when it finally ca out, was a tiny squeak, barely louder than my heartbeat. "Why ?" I asked as I choked back my tears. "Why not Chloe? Isn't she your perfect daughter?" The words burst out before I could stop them.
I wanted to scream at him, tell him it wasn't fair, tell him how shaless he was being at that mont, I wanted to tell him that it shouldn't be ! But I didn't dare say any of it because I fear him, I fear my father. The fear was like a cold hand squeezing my throat, stealing my voice.
My father's voice cut through the tense silence. "That's precisely why not, Layla. Unlike you, Chloerendia has brought nothing but pride to this family na."
Sha burned in my chest, a horrible feeling next to the cold fear. Yeah, Because I was the incomplete one, the screw-up, the one who constantly disappointed him.
"Hah!" I breathed out a laugh, a cold humorless sound. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I didn't let them spill. "So I'm just a disappointnt, then?" I spat the words out. "Just a burden to be offered up to appease so savage beast?! I will not be matched with him!"
The words hung heavy in the air, this was one of the few tis I had ever challenged his authority. But his response, when it ca, was swift but brutal.
"You are the consequence of your own mistake, Layla. A disappointnt." he said, his voice cold and emotionless. "And now, you will face them."
My mistake? Really! My existence is MY MISTAKE?
My father's words echoed in my head, a cruel excuse for throwing away.
I turned to face Chloe, searching for a sliver of pity, a tiny bit of sisterly empathy. But the sight that greeted instead drained the blood from my face. There, plastered across Chloe's face, was a wide, gleeful grin. In her eyes, there was no sign of pity or concern. They sparkled with twisted delight.
It was like a kick in the stomach, a betrayal worse than anything father had said. Chloe, the one person I thought would at least understand my pain was grinning from ear to ear.
How could I forget she was the one who always enjoyed my suffering. She was loving this, she was enjoying this.
Disgust, a bitter taste filled up my throat. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing break. With a hard shake of my head, so strong it made dizzy, I pushed myself out of my chair
"Layla! Get back here!" My father growled.
But I couldn't stay. Not in this room, not with them. My tears blurred my vision as I ran away, the image of Chloe's cruel smile burned into my mory.
It didn't matter where I went, as long as it was far away from this nightmare. I just needed air, to breathe, to scream if I had to, to let out the crushing weight of despair threaten to consu .
Tonight, I wasn't the 'disappointnt'. They were!
Such a disappointnt for a sister.
Such a disappointnt of a father
Tonight, the true monsters sat at a table across from each other, their faces lit up by the flickering candles in the dinner table as they shared a sick joke of a family dinner. They were the real monsters, their cruelty far worse than any story about a Lycan King.
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