Darius:
We had been sitting together in my room, drinking and talking about the trial and Helanie. If I needed to get Helanie away from her protectors, I had to separate her from those rogue brothers.
She was their stepsister for only a year—I’m sure they can’t be that attached to her.
But why the heck did Norman marry her? There’s no way he felt the mate bond with her that night specifically. They planned it.
"We can manipulate Emt against Helanie," I suggested, watching Roo shake his head almost instantly.
"That will be nearly impossible. Emt doesn’t really let others influence him. He only believes what he sees and his own judgnt. I lived with the brothers for a while when I was little. My mother used to leave with them during vacations. If anything, Emt was the hardest one to fool. He wouldn’t believe a word coming from soone else."
That was frustrating.
"What about Maximus and Kaye?" I watched him zone out, like he was trying to rember what they were like.
"Maximus can be manipulated. But you’d have to use love against him. And we don’t even know who the love of his life is right now."
He sounded so annoyed when talking about Maximus. I’d noticed it in his body language—he always got super competitive whenever it ca to Maximus.
"But he has a mate now—Charlotte," I reminded him, and only then did he nod, though sothing told he already knew about her.
"That innocent one? I wonder what she saw in him," he scoffed.
"Umm, the mate bond?" I raised my eyebrow, then my glass to toast with him.
"Ugh, why would the Moon Goddess give her to him as a mate? She’s too good for him. Besides, I know his secrets. There’s no way he could’ve felt a mate bond with her or anyone on full moon night."
Roo was a little too talkative today, so I tried to get as much info out of him as possible.
Usually, he would hide all the gossip about his family from , and it always bothered .
We were friends. Friends who had committed cris together. Why couldn’t he share his cousin’s secrets with ?
"Hmm, what about Kaye?" I watched him nod.
"Only his mother can manipulate him. He’s got mommy issues," he laughed, and I laughed with him.
"Okay, here’s the thing—my sister is hurting. She’s not even talking to , and you know that’s the only thing that really gets to . I can make anyone cry, but not Jessica. So I need to fix this sohow."
I’d been in pain ever since my sweet sister decided she wouldn’t even look at .
No matter how many tis Darcy told her that Helanie was the problem, my sister wouldn’t believe her. She said none of it made sense. Helanie didn’t ask to marry any alpha, nor did she co forward claiming we gang-raped her for fa or to ruin our nas. My sister didn’t find any logical motive behind her accusation.
So I had to tell her that Helanie loved having sex and was getting money in exchange for it, but she got caught—and then had to lie about the rape just to save herself from punishnt.
However, I didn’t know if my sister believed or not, because she hadn’t spoken to since then.
"I would’ve asked you to convince her to find soone else, but leaving Norman—even I would’ve been devastated if soone like him broke my heart. I think she could’ve had a perfect life with him. No fear of cheating—nothing," Roo was actually praising his cousin, and I had to remind him that Norman wasn’t so kind of saint.
"Except he did. He married soone else. So much for being a saint. And now my sister’s gonna marry three burdens along with him. But she doesn’t see it that way. So I need to find a way for her to win Norman back. She deserves to be happy," I said honestly.
She ant the whole world to . But I noticed Roo narrowing his eyes at like he was trying to figure out what I was planning.
"And you definitely have a plan," he nodded when I did.
"I’ll marry Helanie next full moon," I shrugged, but my mood dipped when Roo started laughing like crazy—so much that he spilled his wine.
"I’m so sorry. I just need to confirm I heard you right—you’ll marry her?" He put his glass down and slid to the edge of his seat.
"What’s so funny about it? Norman will reject her, and I’ll say, ’We can et in the middle, I’ll marry her.’ The Council will see as a hero, stepping up to give a lustful woman a ho," I added.
"No, you don’t understand what you’re saying. Helanie would die before marrying any of us. Anyone who has ever wronged her is dead. Zellu died. Have you even looked her in the eyes? She holds so much hate for us. It’s better to keep her at arm’s length. And besides, Norman wouldn’t let you marry her," Roo was really pushing my buttons with this.
"And why not? Helanie had more of a connection with than anyone else. The minute I get her, I know she’ll fall in love with . Then she’ll be all about serving her husband," I scoffed, a little too sharply, making Roo tilt his head at .
"Ah, do you like her or what? I rember that night too—you were so fixated on spending ti alone with her. Don’t tell you’ve fallen for her?" The way he looked so shocked and drained actually made my chest ache.
Here I was, trying to fix everything—and he was just brushing off my ideas.
"I haven’t. I’m just thinking—how would it feel to have her under again? I just want to sleep with her one more ti to understand what I really feel," I replied, keeping my tone calm and steady. But Roo looked terrified at the thought.
"You’re crazy. I’m already regretting the last ti, and you want to sleep with her again?" he hissed, then lowered his voice.
"I am. In fact, I will marry her next full moon—you’ll see."
Roo knew that when I made a deal, I followed through.
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