Oriana:
Hatred and vengeance can ruin a person’s entire life. Hatred toward soone simply because they are better than another person is the most damaging kind. Sadly, I realized this too late.
"Oh Moon Goddess, please forgive for listening to and for begging monsters to fulfill my wishes. If you forgive this once and help get out alive, I will fix everything. I will fix all my mistakes. I will tell everyone the cris I have committed, and I will beg for forgiveness. Please, just this once."
I cried as I ran, my movents wild and desperate.
"Please, Moon Goddess, listen to ," I scread, crying when an idea suddenly ford in my mind.
I could ask for the Crusaders’ help. I could ruin Joshua’s plan and tell them that he was the one summoning the Shadow Earth Eater this ti. I was already a victim. They would try to help . I was sure they would.
"Haiden! Troy! Sebastian! Help !" I scread.
"Mira! Renee! Please, co here! Help !" I shouted again.
I was not paying attention when my foot caught on a rock. My body lifted a few centiters off the ground before slamming down hard.
Pain shot through my arms, chest, and face as my skin scraped against the rough surface.
I cried out, whining as I struggled to get back on my feet.
Joshua ca up behind before I could move. His fist tangled in my hair, yanking my head back before slamming it into the wall. One of the rocky edges scraped against my eyelid, sending sharp pain through my body.
I scread as he struck my face again and again.
"Please, take over," I begged my wolf aloud.
Joshua did not give even a mont. Every ti my wolf tried to respond, he threw against the opposite wall, then kicked and punched the back of my neck.
The pain beca unbearable.
After several minutes of relentless blows, he finally let go. My body collapsed onto the ground. All I could see was red. My hands, my arms, my mouth, everything was bleeding.
I dragged myself away, only to turn and see him standing over my feet. His legs were spread as he cracked his knuckles, a smirk resting on his face.
"It hurts a lot, Joshua. Please don’t do this," I begged, barely able to keep myself upright.
Every inch of my body ached, every bone screaming in pain. Still, I forced my hands up, pressing my palms together as I begged him for forgiveness.
"Please," I uttered, my vision spinning as if the world were swirling around .
Joshua looked down at and smiled faintly.
"Don’t worry. I’m not going to ruin this body too much," he replied. "I an, it’s my Suki’s body from now on."
He tilted his head, as if considering sothing.
"Although it would have been much better if I had Clentine’s body," he continued. "But the Shadow Earth Eater is right. Everybody knows Clentine very well, and her behavior is different from every other woman around. It would be much easier to spot the changes."
Then he chuckled and pointed at .
"But you," he went on, "nobody wants you. Nobody likes you, so nobody fucking cares. Everybody knows you can be as toxic as possible."
As he said those words, he squatted down in front of , and I began to understand what I had done to myself.
At the sa ti, I saw the Shadow Earth Eater leap from one wall to the other, landing silently behind Joshua.
"I gave you a wish, and you ruined it last ti," she remarked bitterly. "You thought you could co back and demand again, as if this were a candy shop."
All this ti, I thought I was clever. I had forgotten that a monster is never to be trusted.
"What she is doing to , she will do worse to you," I told Joshua, lifting my head to look at him. "Don’t go through with this."
After so long, I had finally achieved sothing in my life. I was going back ho, never returning to the north, but he had ruined it for . Freedom felt miles away now, the sa freedom I had almost touched when Yorick marked .
I had made one mistake when the Headmaster asked if I wanted to go on the mission. My jealousy and hatred for Clentine won, and today, I lost.
Joshua crawled on top of , his hands closing around my neck. I tried to fight back, but my body was already in too much pain to respond.
"Just make sure she passes out, and then her soul will be replaced with Suki’s," the Shadow Earth Eater instructed. "Oriana will be gone, with nothing left to rely on. Even her body will be taken from her."
She chuckled, and tears stread down my face.
"Please," I begged Joshua, my voice breaking.
I made the mistake of thinking too far ahead of myself, of feeling too superior, as he knocked the wind out of .
I scratched at the backs of his hands, tears streaming down my face. I had always feared dying in the north, and here I was, dying in the north.
"Well, I can help you with one thing," the Shadow Earth Eater uttered, "just to intensify the pain, I can show you what your life would have been if you had stayed honest and loyal to Clentine."
She swung her arms around in a strange, almost dancing motion. Everything went dark before slowly brightening again.
My throat tightened, but I could no longer see Joshua’s face.
Instead, I saw sothing else, sothing like another reality. It was a life that could have happened if I had not chosen the path I did, if I had decided to stay friends with Clentine.
Right in front of , I was running alongside her.
"We’ll go to the council and let them know, okay?" Clentine told in this version of events, the one I never chose.
"I hope they will help us, Clentine," I heard myself say, my voice full of confidence.
She stayed close to , making sure I remained on the safer side of the road. It was the kind of friendship that could have saved .
"Oh, don’t worry," Clentine added. "Besides, Ian and your alpha mate will be watching out too."
My heart skipped. In this version of my life, it felt like I had found my true mate, not soone I had forced myself to accept.
But that was all I was allowed to see. It looked like the happy ending I had lost. I could not even see who my mate was before everything turned dark again.
All my efforts, all my struggle to survive, vanished.
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