"Scared to fight me?"
That made her stop in her path. Eva could bet 100 gold coins on the fact that he would be smirking like a devil when she turned around. Was she going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her give in?
Absolutely not.
With her lips trying to tug up, she continued walking toward the stairs and heard him speak again in hopes of making her stop.
"I didn't know you were a coward who didn't know how to play a game Birdy." his voice triggered her to clench her fists but she resisted. Did he want a game? She would give him the game of his life right here in front of his friends. He asked for the embarrassment he was now going to receive.
Without turning around and letting him see her expression, she answered, "It looks to me as if you're losing currently. I didn't know that you were a dumb little boy, High Lord." her tone held disappointment as if she was expecting more from him and this time, she let her lips stretch out into a huge smile.
A chuckle from behind her.
The world darkened again.
The smile on her face dropped like a rock into an ocean as she realized what position she was in. Her plans were fading away into a distant memory as she remembered the main purpose of his agreeing to help her. She was smiling and that too genuinely while her mother's body was surely rotting away in some part of Gleana, unattended and alone.
Guilt never felt worse than it did now. Black clouds of misery seemed to have loomed up on her as her ears turned blind to all the surrounding voices.
She was drowning once again, in that familiar well that she had dug for herself with no way of escape.
No light shining through.
No hand reached forward to grab her before she hit the bottom.
Or had she already hit rock bottom?
Was that why her limbs felt so weak and loose all of a sudden?
Or was it the reason why she wanted to puke out everything she had eaten and spoken since the day she arrived here?
'My fault...'
"Hey."
A concerned voice.
It should've faded away into the distance as well.
Why didn't it?
Because it was him.
Him out of all people.
Her only living weakness and now she felt as if his friends were going to be included in that category too.
'They would die because of me too...'
"Birdy?"
He was a distraction...
And she needed to stop herself.
"I think I need to go rest," she spoke and hurried downstairs without another word. Footsteps were quick on her heels but she only increased her pace. He would ask questions. Questions she didn't have an answer to yet. And she was running out of excuses now.
He had a destined mate...
He would be happy...
She didn't need to make him love himself or anyone no more.
He would be perfectly fine without her.
She was just an intrusion.
The voices in her head came to an abrupt halt when he grabbed her hand from behind and pulled. Her face was only inches away from his chest as she continued to look down, anywhere but on his face.
"What's wrong? Why won't you look at me?" his deep yet soft voice invaded her senses like it always did but she had raised a wall. It only bounced, making the hard foundation only shake but not break.
Nobody could break it now...
"Nothing. I just feel tired and you did tell me to rest when I did. And anyways what could be wrong?" she asked with a bright smile on her face but he wasn't a normal human being who would've fallen for that façade that she had placed on her face. No, he was Theo. And Theo... couldn't be fooled so easily.
"You think I believed that lie?" his grip on her was firm yet it wasn't tight enough to leave a mark or hurt her. He had given her full freedom to shake off his hold and she knew if she did he wouldn't try to hold her hand again.
It annoyed her beyond anything. Or that was what she thought right now.
"I'm not lying so believe me and let me go. Fiona or Daphne can wake me up for dinner and I promise to show up. Okay?"
He looked as if he was going to argue but then thought otherwise. Whoever thought he was in love with her was mistaken. He would never even feel anything for her except responsibility. All that happened back in Xandria was...
A delusion.
He seemed to have forgotten it anyway.
'Was I that easy to forget?'
She couldn't blame him for that. If she was in his place, she would most likely do the same.
Right?
But she at least had accepted that the only thing she felt for him wasn't gratitude. It was something else. Something completely different. Something that could mess up her plans and so she opted to ignore it for the time being. Maybe if she thought it didn't exist, the feelings would gradually dissolve into nothing but a faint memory.
"Okay." were the only words he spoke before letting go of her hand and turning around. She watched him walk away, wondering if he had tattoos on his back too. Wondering what it would feel like to be in his arms again. How it would feel to be made happy just by seeing his face.
Ignoring him wouldn't be easy. She had known that from the very first day she had decided to focus on her main plan. Yet she still stumbled and ended up letting him inside. But not another time. If she allowed anything more, she would end up heartbroken when his mate arrived and when his dead body would be lying right in front of her. Gwen, Kai, Sebastian, and Davina would have no one to blame but her.
She would die an outcast and a betrayer.
And she didn't want it for him or herself.
He deserved better...