Clentine:
"What happened? Why are you looking at like that? It feels like I said sothing truly shocking," I asked in confusion, pouting as I kept staring at his face.
He started to pull away from my chest.
"Already? What is it? You’re scaring now," I said as I followed him, trying to get up from the ground.
He held his hand out to support . My dress was heavy, so any help was appreciated. Once I was on my feet, I watched him scratch the back of his neck.
"It’s about one of your mates," he started, and I frowned.
"Is it Troy?" I asked, because Troy was the ssiest one. He always managed to upset Ian sohow.
"No, not really. It’s Yorick."
As soon as he said that, I placed my hands on my waist, wondering what kind of trouble Yorick could have caused. Yorick was not known for getting into trouble, so that felt strange.
Then Ian turned around and gave a brief glance.
"It’s about Yorick and Oriana."
The mont he said their nas together, I sighed and nodded, almost as if I already understood what he was about to say.
"I an, I get it," I started. "I just don’t think he should be with her. She’s too cunning for soone like him. I thought he would be upset that she played him."
The words kept spilling out. I wasn’t rambling without reason. I was trying to be understanding.
I had already chosen my mate. I would never tell Yorick not to choose Oriana. But it would an Yorick and I could never talk again, never even be friends, because he knew what she had done.
While all of these thoughts were swirling in my head, Ian shook his head again. This ti, I realized it was a completely different situation.
I just didn’t know how bad it was until he spoke again.
"She accused him of forcing himself on her."
The words hit hard.
I stared at his face for a few seconds, then raised my finger and squeezed one eye shut.
"No. No. That can’t be," I said. "What?"
I couldn’t even find the right words.
Ian began to tell everything that had happened and what Yorick had been accused of. The minute he finished, I started to shake my head aggressively and began to pace around anxiously.
"That’s not possible. Yorick would never do that," I said. "You know Oriana better than I do. She’s a liar. She has lied before. She tried to—"
I stopped and took a deep breath to calm my nerves.
"If anything, I don’t understand why she wasn’t punished for trying to force herself on them by hypnotizing them. You know that was wrong too," I complained, watching Ian look at with guilt in his eyes.
He instantly looked down and wrapped his hands behind his back.
"And you took so long to tell this," I added. "Ian."
I did not understand why he hadn’t told imdiately.
"Actually," he said softly, still not looking at , "there was a witness."
"Who?" I asked, crossing my arms and tapping my foot against the ground. "Who was it?"
"Miss Rue."
The na barely left his lips before he seed to realize how bad it sounded. He bit his tongue, closed his eyes, and made a quiet sound of frustration.
"Oh, fuck," he muttered, stretching his neck back and staring at the ceiling.
"Exactly," I snapped. "I can’t believe this. That woman and Oriana should never have crossed paths. And look at the result. Oh my God. Poor Yorick."
I slapped my forehead.
"We can go now," Ian started, but I raised my palm to stop him.
"No, Ian. You should have told already. We don’t know what they did to him over there. The amount of hatred, the sha, everything he must have gone through."
I paused, placing one hand on my back and the other on my forehead.
"Do you have the key?" I asked, straightening my posture.
"Yeah. Oh, wait. I had the key," Ian said, patting himself down. When he looked up, he must have noticed how tightly I was clenching my jaw, because he lifted a finger. "Wait. It’s in my old clothes."
He ran toward the room where he had changed.
I continued pacing, my thoughts racing. If he had told earlier, I wouldn’t have wasted a second.
I would have gone back and exposed Miss Rue. With her credibility destroyed, no one would have believed her or Oriana.
I didn’t like questioning victims, but so people could not be trusted. Oriana was one of them.
The fact that no one had even confronted her for forcing herself on others back then almost made my head spin.
Ian returned, holding the key.
"She—Miss Rue—gave this," he started. "Rue gave the key to open the fence—"
I began walking past him before he could finish.
"Okay. It’s fine," he said quickly. "You don’t have to talk to . I fucked up."
He kept talking behind .
I knew it wasn’t entirely his fault, but he should have told . What if Yorick had already been punished? I couldn’t stand the thought of celebrating my wedding while soone innocent was being accused of sothing so cruel.
I walked faster, holding my skirt up. When I turned, I saw Ian grab the fabric from behind. I shrugged it free and kept moving.
He ran after .
"He’ll be fine," he said.I didn’t answer. I went straight into the woods until I reached the fence. It was the sa fence where Miss Rue had shot before.
I stepped aside while Ian went ahead and opened the fence. Just a few steps later, I was back on the mainland.
He quickly shut the fence behind us, and then we both stood there in silence. The air felt so fresh that I was surprised by the difference between just a few steps from one side to the other.
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