Undying Hate | Book Three

Twelve | Fault

Sylvie pressed her lips together and crossed her arms. Nothing she said was going to make the interaction better.

"Vee... Don't do this to yourself. It wasn't your fault."

"Please don't," she said, breathing turning shallow as she fought back tears.

"You don't." Rosie mirrored her with crossed arms and forced Sylvie to look her in the eyes. 

"Do you wanna know what her last words to me were? Huh? She said, 'Don't let that bitch take the blame. I owe everything to her. Tell her I'm sorry I wasn't a better friend in the beginning.' Her last words were about you!"

Sylvie turned her head away, but Rosie marched along with her. They didn't touch, but Rosie's demeanour held so much stubbornness Sylvie couldn't help but look at her again.

"I loved her, and I never told her." Rosie's lips quivered as Sylvie uncrossed her arms, lifting her fingers to brush Rosies shaking ones.

"She knew, Rosie. She loved you. Her last words for me were to look after you. And even though she didn't say it, the way she looked at you- god... I know you weren't mates, but she looked at you like you held the moon in the palm of your hand. I know she loved you. And I love you too, and I'm so fucking sorry it got taken away from you. I appreciate that you don't blame me, but I can't stop, and I won't stop until Hayes is dead. It won't bring her back, but I don't know, maybe it will heal something-"

"Revenge doesn't heal, Vee. It doesn't. But if it saves others, I'll be there, and we'll kill that motherfucker. Together."

Rosie pulled Sylvie into a hug, and they held each other, letting the tears fall, and the hiccuping sobs escape. They shared their sadness. By the end of it, they looked terrible, but the weight on Sylvie's heart had lightened a fraction, and she prepared a new game plan.

*

"Come walk with me," Rowan watched Sylvie expectedly as she nuzzled beneath the duvet. After a week of mourning, she finally woke without sobbing, and despite her puffy eyes from the night before, she called it a win.

"You promise it's just a walk?"

"I promise."

She groaned and stretched like a cat before rolling across the bed towards him. When she was close enough, he buried his nose into her hair and moaned. "For someone hiding in bed for a week, you should smell way worse."

"Didn't I tell you I never smell? It's a Fae thing, I think."

"Mhmm."

She jumped up and changed before following him out the door.

"Elias is at the office again, and Kian is... around."

"I know." Sylvie sighed, pulling her hair into a low pony. "I can feel it in my marks." 

Elias had been recovering, so he spent most of his time inside the home office, resting or working, and Kian had been relatively MIA. Both absences made her grief larger, and she believed it took longer for her to recover because she'd been lonely. Most of it was self-inflicted, from hiding in her room all day, only coming out to eat, but the loss of contact and affection from her mates had something to do with it.

"What ended up happening with Kol?"

"Kerensa took him back to Evergreen."

"Without even saying goodbye?" Sylvie rubbed her arms and couldn't even force a smile when Rowan laced his fingers with hers.

Was Kerensa disturbed by Sylvie's recent transformation? She sure looked it before Rowan had pulled her through the portal...

"I was annoyed with her at first, too, but she said you'd understand."