Chapter 621: The Choice That Cos With Knowing
Annabeth didn’t speak imdiately.
She stared at the snow in front of her, her fingers brushing lightly against it, like she was trying to ground herself before saying sothing she couldn’t take back.
Ronan didn’t rush her.
He just watched her.
Waiting.
Annabeth exhaled slowly, then she spoke.
"Honestly... the first thought that ca to my mind was that if Sophia has ties to Victoria... then I could use Sophia to get to Victoria. Since I can’t hurt Victoria herself then maybe I can hurt Sophia."
Ronan didn’t react.
Not outwardly.
But his gaze sharpened just slightly.
Annabeth let out a quiet breath, almost like she was disappointed in herself.
"It wasn’t sothing I thought through," she added. "It just... ca."
Her fingers curled slightly into the snow.
"But there’s a part of that knows that doesn’t make sense."
She lifted her gaze then, eting his.
"Sophia isn’t the one who destroyed my pack," she said.
Her voice was steady now.
"She’s not the one who sent warriors to the Silvercreek pack over and over again. She’s not the one who destroyed the hill. She’s not the one who made people run... or scream... or lose everything."
Ronan’s jaw tightened slightly, but he said nothing.
Annabeth continued.
"She hasn’t done anything to . Or my pack. She didn’t starve us, she didn’t make it seem like we would have nowhere else to go until we submitted to her." She paused briefly. "It was all Victoria."
The na hung in the air between them.
Annabeth swallowed, then looked away again.
"I know that," she said more quietly. "I do."
There was a pause.
A longer one this ti.
"But..." she added.
Ronan didn’t interrupt.
"I also know that I’m not sure I’ll be able to look at her without my judgnt getting clouded."
That one ca out softer and as much as it hurt to say, it was the honest truth.
Ronan stared at her for a while after that.
Long enough that she could feel the weight of it.
Then he looked away.
"I really like Sophia," he said.
Annabeth glanced at him as he spoke. "I like her too, even though we’ve not known each other for long."
Ronan let out a slow breath.
"She has that effect on people, I find it hard to believe anyone could hate her," he said with a smile.
"But I love her like a sister and that’s why I promised Orion I’d support her." He added.
He shifted slightly, his back pressing more firmly against the tree.
"I may have killed the person who killed my family but like I said, Victoria still lives."
"I know," Annabeth said.
Ronan gave a small nod.
Then he ran a hand through his hair.
"But this..." he trailed off.
He exhaled deeply.
"It’s hard."
The words were simple.
But they carried weight.
"It’s really hard," he added.
Annabeth didn’t say anything.
She just listened.
"I was putting on a brave face earlier," Ronan continued. "Acting like I had it together in front of Orion."
He gave a small, humorless chuckle.
"But I’m affected by this too."
He looked down at his hands.
"I wanted it so badly for it to not be true," he said. "Because Sophia is... well, she’s Sophia."
Annabeth stayed quiet.
"She’s cute," he added after a mont.
"She’s feisty," he continued. "She doesn’t back down from anything. She fights for people... even when she shouldn’t."
His voice slowed.
"She puts herself in danger without thinking twice."
He paused again.
"That... that..."
He stopped.
His hands ca up, covering his face.
"Fuck."
The word ca out low and frustrated. It didn’t make sense.
And then he went quiet.
He didn’t say anything else. His shoulders tensed and his breathing was almost ragged.
He rembered everything, it was like it was all playing in front of him again.
The last look his mother had given him before she died. His brother hiding him while he fought.
His father losing himself after their deaths, crying during every festival even if he claims he doesn’t cry during the festivals.
The screams.
The chaos.
The pack falling apart. People crying, limbs lost, the screams that night when the attack happened, Brynhild crying for her sister and screaming in tears that she couldn’t see. Orion blaming himself for everything.
Annabeth’s chest tightened. She too had thoughts of what her pack had experienced at Victoria’s hands. The last gaze Benny had given her, Nathan and many others who had died at Victoria’s hands and her cruelty.
They stayed like that for a while, each person lost in their own thoughts.
Then Ronan moved.
He lowered his hands slowly. His eyes were red-rimd now.
But clearer.
He turned to her again.
"I’m going to ask you the sa thing Orion asked us," he said.
Annabeth held his gaze.
"When it cos out that Sophia has ties to Victoria..." he continued.
He paused briefly.
"Will you stand by her?"
Annabeth didn’t answer imdiately.
"Will you try to make people see that she’s not the villain..." he added, his voice quieter now, "...but the greatest victim in all this?"
The question settled between them.
Annabeth inhaled slowly.
Then exhaled.
She thought about it for a while, it would be hard but again, Sophia had never done anything to hurt her. Sophia was the victim here.
—
While Ronan and Annabeth spoke, Orion was back at the dical facility, he sat beside Sophia’s bed, his hand wrapped around hers.
The room was quiet. He hadn’t moved for a while, his gaze on her face, searching for even the faintest sign of distress. She still muttered soft apologies but that was it.
Lysander would take a while before he ca back to the facility too.
Orion’s thumb brushed lightly against the back of her hand.
And it was like that was a sign for her because suddenly her eyes opened and Orion at first was glad she had regained consciousness but it didn’t take seconds before he found out that wasn’t the case.
Sophia opened her mouth and a guttural scream tore through as she thrashed on the bed, tears pouring from her eyes.
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