Gemini of the Shifter Realm

Chapter 8 Yellow Bees

Adrian Tepes P.O.V

Sypha's eyes narrowed, disbelief etched across her face. "What?" she demanded, her voice tight with tension.

"You heard me," I said firmly.

"No," she responded instantly, shaking her head. "Absolutely not."

"Why? Do you love him?" I pressed, my frustration barely contained.

She looked away, her gaze dropping to the floor. "I can learn to."

"What about me?" I challenged, my voice rising. "What about what we had?"

"Where were you when I needed you?" she shot back, her voice breaking. "You disappeared without a trace."

"I'm here now," I said, trying to bridge the chasm that had formed between us.

"For how long?" Sypha's eyes were filled with tears. "You'll leave once your job is done. What am I supposed to do? Wait another few years for you to come back?"

"No," I answered, a resolution forming in my chest. "I'll marry you this time."

Her eyes widened in shock. "You can't just show up out of the blue and propose."

"This isn't some fairy tale!" I snapped. "Which prince is this you're marrying?"

"Trevor Belmont," she replied, her voice barely a whisper.

The name hit me like a punch to the gut. "You're marrying my fucking cousin!" I yelled, my anger and disbelief spilling over.

Sypha flinched at my outburst. "My fucking cousin!" I repeated, my voice echoing in the cold space between us. "So, Uncle Radu just swooped in to ask for your hand the moment I vanished?"

"Do you even understand why he did it? It's for your powers. How could you be so blind to see that and accepted it?" I asked.

"I didn't!" she cried, her voice cracking. "I protested every step of the way! I waited for you, year after year, denying the engagement, and guess what? You never came. No texts, no calls, you disappeared. And now you're judging me for making a choice out of necessity when all this happened because of you in the first place?"

"Do you think it was easy for me? It is never easy for the person who is left not wanting to move on but having to move on because I was not given a choice, I was not left with an option but to move on." She exclaimed.

"No one can ever understand the pain of being left until they go through it themselves. The strongest person is not the one who leaves, it is the one who has been left having to deal with situations that are out of their control." She finishes.

I was silent, grappling with the weight of her words. "Look, I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. But why is it always assumed that men must make the first move? Why didn't you come looking for me?"

"Seriously?" she scoffed, her frustration palpable. "You're turning this around on me now?"

"No, but it's true," I insisted. "You expected and waited for me all these years yet did you make any attempt to come and find me? Did you bang on my door asking why I left? If the situation was reversed and you left for some cause, you would still be expecting me to come through, it has always been that way."

She paused, her expression softening as she considered my words. "I guess I never thought about it like that," she admitted quietly.

I sighed, feeling the weight of our shared past. "Well, the past is the past. We were young, and we both made mistakes."

"What are we going to do about it now, in the present?" I questioned.

Oz Wyltt P.O.V

"No," my father's voice was firm, cutting through the tension.