Mariana:
Clentine arriving in that mont, when Yorick was in such a miserable state, was probably a good thing.
I do not think she would have forgiven him if she had not seen him in such a redeemable condition.
I had only spent a day or two with Yorick, but we had connected deeply. We had talked through the night, lying in each other’s arms.
Even the day before that, we had talked endlessly. We shared our weaknesses because there was nothing else to do in the North except talk and look at each other.
So when Clentine ca and saw him like that, I had to step in. I did not want her to misunderstand him.
Yorick was a victim of long manipulation, abuse, and gaslighting. Living in that house, he had witnessed horrors beyond asure.
To the point where he believed everyone else was a victim except himself. He did not even know that if the dicine had reached him before his brother that day, he might have been the monster instead.
I did not even want to think about it. The thought alone terrified .
I could not lose Yorick.
Fauna being there was shocking too. But ever since she had gone with Haiden, I expected she would be involved in things like this.
Still, when she saw here, she was stunned. We embraced and cried.
Seeing her again felt like relief.
An hour later, when the storm had cald, everyone sat with their mates except mine. Yorick had found a shovel sowhere and was burying his family.
He refused all help. He dug the graves alone.
"Yorick, let help you," I said, watching him anxiously as he drove the shovel into the ground.
"If we place this body here, it should be deeper. Mama would want to rest in the middle, so her loved ones can be around her," he muttered to himself.
Watching him like that made my heart crumble.
"Give him so ti," Fauna said softly, taking my hand from behind and guiding away. "Standing there while he talks to himself will only hurt you."
"I cannot watch him suffer, Fauna," I told her, turning to face her.
"I know. It is not easy seeing your mate in pain," she replied, sitting down beside her.
"He will be fine. He is a fighter," Haiden added.
I nodded slowly.
"So you all are mates too?" Fauna asked, glancing between us. "Isn’t it strange that we did not find our mates until we escaped our toxic environnt and entered the real dangerous world?"
Her words struck with their clarity.
"Just a few days away from Father, and you’ve grown wiser," I remarked.
She laughed softly.
"I think we never reached our full potential before," she answered, then shook her head. "Clentine needs to understand that not everyone is like her."
Her words caught Troy and Leysa’s attention. I could tell Clentine could hear us.
She was sitting in front of us, her head resting on her mate’s shoulder. We all looked at one another in silence, our hearts heavy.
"I do not think Clentine and Ian ant to hurt him further," Fauna continued. "Their hearts are already wounded."
"What do you an?" Haiden asked.
"We all grew up in toxic environnts," Fauna explained. "We suffered. We were abused, manipulated, and silenced. We were taught that enduring the wrong quietly ant survival." she paused.
"So we started justifying our actions. We beca part of the abuse."
Her eyes shifted toward Clentine.
"But Clentine is not like that. Even though she grew up in worse conditions, she never abandoned her righteousness. Maybe she assud everyone else would be the sa. We were not as strong as her. We were weak."
As she admitted it, I nodded.
Leysa straightened her posture and wrapped her arms around Troy before speaking.
"Clentine has always been forgiving and understanding," Leysa said. "That is why this hurt her so deeply. But I know she will co around. I know she will forgive Yorick. Sowhere, she knows he was forced into it. He never physically hard her."
She took a short breath.
"At first, I thought killing Oriana was wrong," she continued. "But then I realized Oriana had done the sa. She left my sister among monsters. She wanted the giants and ogres to kill her." There was anger in her voice.
"So why should I feel guilty? Suki was already dead. She did not have the right to return. She was trying to kill my sister the last ti I saw her. Why should I feel bad for her?"
Leysa shrugged and rested her head on Troy’s shoulder.
"Joshua killed Mira," Troy said quietly. "I cannot believe they were playing such a big ga behind our backs."
I had never known Mira personally, but from everything I had heard, she had been the most innocent of them all.
I was happy for my sister, and she was happy for . We talked for a long ti.
I told her how Yorick and I had finally beco one the night before. It had been our first ti together.
Our conversation had barely ended when our eyes shifted toward Yorick. He had finished burying everyone.
He turned around slowly, exhaustion weighing on his face. He drove the shovel into the ground and looked at each of us one by one.
"There is a way to fix all of this," he announced.
"My father told everything before he died," he continued. "Before he cowardly ended his own life so he would not have to face the consequences of his actions."
He spoke coldly. It was as if the life had drained from his eyes.
I rose from my spot and walked toward him in asured steps. When I reached him, I stood at his side and faced the others.
"He’s right," I said firmly. "We can clean the North again."
The mont I said it, everyone grew alert.
Now we were ready for a mission.
"What do we have to do?" Clentine asked Yorick, her tone carrying a quiet hint.
It sounded like she was trying to show him she was speaking to him again. Maybe she wanted him to understand that we did not hate him, but that it would take ti.
"Everyone gather," Yorick instructed, straightening his posture. "From now on, we walk only on the right path."
As he spoke, he began explaining how we could fix everything. He laid out the steps carefully, his voice steady despite the exhaustion still clinging to him.
But I noticed sothing.
In the middle of his explanation, Yorick lied about one detail.
That was when I realized sothing else was going on in his mind.
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