Pride-Niklaus's Point of View
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"She mustn't be so sane anymore," Dom muttered, his voice low and edged with frustration. His fingers ran agitatedly through his messy hair, betraying his inner turmoil. His gaze flicked to the others, the tension palpable in the room as we all digested the severity of the situation.
"Maybe," I replied with a cold bitterness that lingered in my words, my voice carrying the weight of everything I had witnessed. "I don't think I would be sane if I had watched what she did either," I added, a hollow chuckle escaping my lips. The sound was more of a grim exhale than actual amusement. "In fact, no one would be. Unless they're actual psychopaths, or they're just full of shit, trying to convince themselves that everything's okay. But what really gets to me is that something bad happened to Scarlet in Draki Mountain. Something that left her in the state we saw her in yesterday," I finished, my voice trailing off as a shiver ran down my spine at the memory.
It was impossible to erase that image from my mind. The raw terror in her eyes, the haunting distance in her gaze. I could feel a rage bubbling up inside of me, desperate to understand, to help her somehow. I just wanted to force her to tell me what happened—make her confess so I could do something about it.
If someone had hurt her that badly, I didn't even know what I'd do to them, but it sure wouldn't be pleasant. They wouldn't get away with it, not under any circumstances. They'd pay, and I'd be the one to make sure of it.
As I spoke, I noticed the room tense up even more. The air thickened with unspoken thoughts, all of us circling around the truth but not quite daring to reach it. The mention of Draki Mountain had that effect on everyone. It was as though we could all feel the weight of the unknown hanging over us.
"I still can't believe she's been fooling us all this time," Nathan muttered under his breath, his disbelief echoing in his words. His usual cocky confidence was gone, replaced by a sense of unease.
Neither could I. How had I never questioned it? I had been so sure—so certain—that her eyes were naturally golden, that her hair had always been red. To think I had been so naïve. I felt like banging my head against the wall, trying to knock some sense into myself. How had I missed it?
The signs were right there, all along. The truth had been staring me in the face, and I had ignored it. I couldn't believe I had been so blind. "What really shocks me is that she hid all of this from her twins," I said, my gaze dropping to my hands as if they might somehow hold the answers. "Or that they aren't as close as we thought they were," I added quietly, the words heavy in the air.
"And she hides things from them," my sister added, her voice almost a whisper, but there was a weight to it that made me stop and listen. "Though seeing them apologizing to us kind of freaked me out. If she'd seen them doing that…" She trailed off, the implication in her unfinished sentence hanging between us.
"She would have beaten them up," Dom added with a light chuckle, though it was clear from his tone that he wasn't taking the situation lightly. The laughter was forced, almost bitter, as if he too was trying to mask the uncomfortable tension that was creeping up on all of us.
"But maybe we could use that, no?" Kai's voice cut through the silence, his eyes gleaming with a mischievous light. "We're all enemies here in Sky-Eden, after all. Maybe we could use them against her."
Use her siblings against her? It felt dirty, low, beneath us. Yet, in some twisted way, I knew it could work. Scarlet would absolutely do something like that to me without batting an eyelash. And considering the animosity between us, maybe it wasn't so far-fetched.
"Maybe," I said, my voice thoughtful, though there was a dark edge to it. "Besides, she's also trying to kill my sister. We'd just be getting even, right?" The words left my mouth with a sour taste, but they were the truth. If they were foolish enough to get close to us, we'd use that. We had no choice.
Again, I wasn't the one who started this war between us. She had her reasons, yes, but I was just trying to survive. Trying to protect what mattered. If she was going to play dirty, then fine. So would I.
"Like Nik said yesterday, she's the one with more to lose in all of this," Nathan added, a sly grin tugging at the corner of his lips. "Nik only has Dove, while Persephone has both Apollo and Atlas, and they don't seem to be in on whatever she's scheming."
"Let's not forget that they don't even agree with her," Nora added sharply, snapping her fingers as if that fact should have been obvious to all of us. Her tone was decisive, her words carrying the weight of truth.
"Okay," Dove suddenly spoke up, her voice cutting through the conversation with unexpected sharpness. She stood from the couch and walked over to me, her gaze locking with mine. "Let's go to your bedroom. It's soundproof, and I need to have a private talk with you, away from all these idiots!"
"Aye, you wound me, Zalla-Walla," Dom teased, though the lightness in his voice couldn't disguise the tension that was building between us all. His playful tone felt forced, as if he were trying to keep things light when everything was anything but.
Dove shot him a glare, and her amethyst eyes—matching my own—seemed to glow with an intensity that was hard to ignore. "Dominic, I swear I'll break your horns if you keep this up," she said, her voice cool but sharp, carrying the weight of a threat that needed no further explanation.
Dom winked at her, unfazed by the threat. "I won't shift my horns near you, then, darling," he said, his tone still light, though there was something in his eyes that told me he wasn't entirely joking.
It was my turn to glare at him now. "Don't flirt with my sister," I warned, my voice low, but it was firm and serious. I wasn't going to let him brush this off.
"Tsk," Dom clicked his tongue, a mock expression of annoyance playing on his face. "I'm not flirting."
"As if I don't know you better than you know yourself, Dom," I shot back, narrowing my eyes. "Yes. Yes, you were. I know you, arsehole. And I'm not letting you near my little sister with those filthy intentions of yours. I'll knock some sense into you if I have to, you gluttonous dumbarse."
"Aye," Dom waved off my warning with a lazy gesture, though I saw the faintest blush creeping up his neck. It was enough to make me feel just a little victorious.
"I'm serious," I said again, my voice firm, though there was an underlying annoyance in it. "If you get near her like that, I'll castrate you."
"Overprotective much?" Dove giggled, a mischievous glint in her eyes. She intertwined her arm with mine, guiding me away from the group. "Come on, let's go. We'll leave them to their bickering. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him for you."
With that, she led me towards my bedroom. Once we were inside, she locked the door behind us, ensuring the sounds from the others stayed outside. The room felt like a sanctuary, the isolation allowing me to finally breathe a little easier. It was just the two of us now, and we had things to discuss—things that couldn't wait. This was the only place we could talk in peace, away from the prying ears of everyone else.