"I just..." Trudy began, then faltered. She considered saying, ’don’t mind them,’ but that was her go-to for making Riona’s blood boil, so she searched for a better way to phrase it.
After their last interaction—or more accurately, the lack of one—Trudy had a revelation: Riona might have completely misunderstood her. Calling her a ’hypocrite’ suggested that Trudy’s actions didn’t quite match her feelings, which was a bit of a stretch.
"There might be a misunderstanding here," Trudy finally said, hoping Riona would clarify exactly what had led to the ’hypocrite’ label.
Riona, with a dismissive snort, turned her attention back to the sea. The mild waves rolled in and out with a rhythmic sigh, bringing with them the scent of the salty water to her nose.
Seeing that Riona wasn’t about to volunteer any details, Trudy decided to cut straight to the point, "What did you an by calling a hypocrite? I’m as transparent as a glass of water, and I don’t exactly do the whole facade thing."
Riona wasn’t exactly in the mood for a chat, so she decided to keep her mouth shut. Trudy, however, wasn’t having any of it. She plopped down next to Riona with determination.
"I’m not going anywhere until you talk," Trudy declared as if her life depended on hearing Riona’s thoughts.
Riona stared at her, bewildered. Who was this werewolf, and why was she so obsessed with torturing Riona with her stubbornness?
Riona was the public enemy of Wintertooth, so why on earth would Trudy be so keen on her company when she could be partying with her pack?
Not that Riona thought the bonfire was a blast. She wasn’t exactly thrilled about the idea of partying with a bunch of hostile werewolves. And she was prepared to suffer through it alone.
But if the werewolves were having fun, shouldn’t Trudy join them?
"Seriously, just give it a rest," Riona said wearily, hoping Trudy would get the hint and take her leave.
"Nope," Trudy retorted. "I can be stubborn if I want to. Spill it or I’ll shadow you forever. And I an forever. Like, until the end of ti."
Riona raised an eyebrow at this persistent annoyance.
What was the deal with this werewolf?
The unyielding demand for answers was infuriating, especially when it brought up unpleasant mories of being the most hated being in Wintertooth.
It was like being forced to publish a newspaper about all the things she wanted to forget.
"What’s wrong with you?" Riona snapped, very irritated.
"You slandered ," Trudy shot back in a matter-of-fact way. "Called sothing I’m clearly not. I’m just trying to clear my na. You might not get it, but having people think the wrong thing about makes uncomfortable."
Riona sighed, finally realizing what was happening. Ah, so that’s what this was all about. Trudy wasn’t going to let it go until she could regain her good reputation.
Wow, soone’s got their priorities straight.
Sensing Riona’s defenses lowering ever so slightly, Trudy jumped in with what she probably thought was a killer question.
"Did I say sothing wrong?" she asked with a softer voice, almost cautious.
"It’s not what you did, but rather, what you didn’t do," Riona finally told her. "When your friends were badmouthing , you were there too, and you did nothing to stop them. For , you’re all two peas in the sa pod. No difference."
Riona stared out at the waves for a mont before finally replying, "It’s not what you did. It’s what you didn’t do."
Trudy blinked, looking genuinely confused.
"When your friends were badmouthing , you were right there. You didn’t say a word. Didn’t stop them. Didn’t defend ," Riona said.
She ignored Trudy’s widened eyes and continued with a sense of finality, "So as far as I’m concerned, you’re all the sa—just two peas in the sa rotten pod."
Trudy wracked her brain, trying to pinpoint the exact incident Riona was talking about. She was certain she’d never hung around with a pack of trash-talking furs.
The thing she despised most was cowardly werewolves, and gossiping behind soone’s back was practically the definition of it.
Whenever pack mbers had thrown shade at Riona in front of her, Trudy had shut that down. So when on earth had she just stood by and done nothing?
After a thorough ntal search, it finally hit her. There had been one ti—the only ti—when Trudy had hesitated. She’d hoped the pack mbers would vent their frustration and then stop on their own.
They had been grumbling about Thorin’s sudden decision to bring a vampire into the community. Honestly, Trudy had thought they were just blowing off steam.
It seed understandable at the ti, so she’d let them have their little complaining session.
But instead of cooling down, the grumbling had turned into an outright attack on Riona, and by the ti Trudy had finally stepped in, it had clearly been too late.
"You heard that?" Trudy muttered in disbelief, mostly to herself. She hadn’t seen anyone around that day, and she had completely forgotten her delayed intervention—almost.
Riona let out a snort. "Oh, please. Did you really think you could talk trash and get away with it just because you couldn’t see lurking around?"
"No, that’s not—"
"Then what? Look, it doesn’t matter what you said behind my back," Riona lied through her teeth.
It did matter, and she totally cared, but she absolutely couldn’t let a werewolf know that. Her pride was hanging by a thread, and she wasn’t about to hand Trudy the scissors.
"If you couldn’t be bothered to stop your trash-talking pack buddies, the least you could do is stop pretending you’re so kind of saint in front of ."
Riona’s chest was heaving as she spoke with so much emotions.
"Are we clear? Good. Now, go poof into the night or whatever you wolves do. And for the love of garlic, never show your face again."
"You’re wrong!" Trudy blurted. Her voice was cracking under the pressure.
She was choking on about a hundred things she wanted to say—words that were fighting to get out, but they all felt like la excuses. Anything she said now would just sound like a la excuse.
And if she were in Riona’s place, she’d be pissed too.
But being misunderstood was worse than dealing with Riona’s icy glare, so Trudy pressed on. She didn’t hate Riona—far from it.
She had hoped to befriend her, to learn more about the vampire world and its mysterious quirks.
It was like finding a rare species in the wild—you couldn’t help but want to study it, maybe poke it with a stick. In a friendly way, of course.
So, despite feeling like she was walking barefoot across broken glass, Trudy explained. She started at the beginning, powering through every eye roll from Riona.
Whenever Riona tried to interrupt with so snarky remark, Trudy just kept on talking like she had noise-canceling headphones on.
She was determined to get her point across, even if Riona looked like she’d rather jump into the ocean than listen to one more word.
"Do you get it now? Am I cleared now?" Trudy confird.
Finally, Trudy reached the end of her epic saga and exhaled like she’d just run to the mountain and returned. "So, do you get it now? Am I in the clear?"
Riona’s expression, however, wasn’t so
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