Blood Legacy (Rewritten)

43. The ugly truth pt.2

I've been absently staring at the hard-wooden floor for a while now, gently rocking myself back and forth as I tightly held my knees as if trying to protect myself from the world, the sounds of my father arguing with Nathan in the kitchen casually fading in and out.
I was so numb by now. Numb from all that obsessive fretting and thinking, wondering what was going to happen to me now.
Okay, so I wasn't just a normal human being like I thought so all my fucking life. But now what? What was I supposed to do with myself? How was I supposed to take this? Would I be able to keep living exactly like I did so far? Was there something expected from me, now that I knew this? What about my sister? Would she be okay? Was she in a some kind of danger now because of that?

What about mom? I paused to think about her too, casually thinking about the fact that my father didn't mention anything about her earlier when he'd told me about us being more than just humans.
Did that mean that she was the only human in this family? Was that why she kinda seemed to dislike us so much? Oh my god, that would fucking explain so much by the way.

"Did she know? Our mom, does she know about any of this?" I quickly asked as soon as I noticed my father coming back into the living room with Nathan trailing close behind, his grey-blue eyes meeting mine.

"No. I never told her about any of this but I know that she was suspecting it. She could feel that something was different about me, about you too. She never asked but she definitely suspected it,"

I only nodded in response, remaining silent for a few moments longer.

"Okay, so we're not normal people. Fine,"

"But that still doesn't explain why you decided to just give me away like fucking cattle, like some damn property goddamnit!" I voiced out my frustration with a raised tone.

I deserved an explanation. I deserved at least a fucking pertinent and logic explanation for all this.

He blew out a tired sigh, rubbing at his temples before he went and took a seat on a plushy ottoman, facing me with a very serious expression.

"Okay. So there was a treaty our clans, the shamans and werewolves alike made, a long time ago,"

"A treaty that specifically stated that every once in a while, our clan council will cast a vote to decide which one of our families gets sworn under the vow and has to offer their first-born to the royal werewolf family.
Obviously, I won that "contest"," He said with a raised brow and his lips set in a thin line, visibly not too thrilled about the idea.

Okay, that doesn't sound stupid or outdated at all. Note the sarcasm.

"But why do you have a treaty going on in the first place?" My brows furrowed with evident curiosity.

"Believe it or not, that treaty is the only thing keeping us from going to war against each other,"

What?

"It's safe to say that we never really got along. Well, not me and Nathan's family specifically, but our clans. While the shamans never agreed with the way wolves handled things, their absurd hierarchy and rules, the wolves didn't like us any better, seeing as we were the ones with enough power to bring them down to their knees,"

Upon hearing that, my gaze briefly trailed to Nathan, just in time to watch him roll his eyes, a rather bored and unimpressed expression taking over his features.

"We've never tried that, obviously," My father added with a mild shake of his head,

"But that didn't stop them from feeling threatened anyway,"

"So we had to make a compromise,"

"We had to come up with a peace offering, a promise that our clans will continue to co-exist," He explained with an uneasy look on his face, receiving a narrowed glare from me.

"Yeah, at my expense and his too," I pointed in Nathan's direction, earning myself a confused look from my father.

"He doesn't even want me, he'd made that pretty clear. He doesn't want to be bound by some stupid vow or marry me! And neither do I!" I shouted out loud with aggravation, only to be immediately followed by Nathan.

"Okay, stop, just fucking stop saying that!"

My lips parted with surprise, rendered speechless as I stared up at him.

"First of all, I never said that, not even before knowing that you were my true soulmate," He started to explain, his gaze filled with anger and betrayal as he looked down at me, making me feel a twinge of pain and uneasiness.

"And second of all, I've already told you what I feel for you, my true feelings,"

"But apparently, that doesn't even matter for you. It means nothing. My love for you means NOTHING," He shouted it out at the end, making me flinch.

"Guess I'll just stop trying then," He raised his hands up to express his frustration before he quickly turned around to leave, my face still frozen with that shocked expression as I could only stare after him, words evading me.

What...the fuck just happened...

"Wait, Nate-" My father tried to stop him as he rose up, barely managing to utter those words when he suddenly whipped back around, staring him down with a scowl on his face,

"Don't worry, Lysander, you'll have your stupid wedding. And that stupid ritual.
I'm not THAT dumb. I will not jeopardy the lives of my people, just because I'm feeling like a fucking coward,"

Wait, was that a jab at me?

"But I'm not gonna go ahead and grovel at your daughter's feet either, begging for a fucking crumb of attention. I'm done doing that,"

He turned back around and left, leaving us standing there like two idiots as we could only stare after him, my chest though unexpectedly filling with a horrible sensation of hollowness as I watched him get further and further away from me, making me feel like crying again as for some reason, my heart longed for his presence. It ached for his wounded soul. For that hurt I'd unwillingly inflicted upon him.

What the fuck have I done?