Scarlett (Second Edition) by Karima Saad Usman novel Chapter 103

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Scarlett

Chapter 103

Clay’s POV

As we drove, silence settled in, heavy and uncomfortable. I could see the sorrow eating away at Lucian. He Tooked like he was drowning, his body slumped against the door, tears trailing down his face. His regret was a dark, consuming thing. Part of me wanted to scream at him again, to lash out and make him feel the pain I was carrying.

“You were the one who said we should strip her bare,” I finally shouted, my voice ringing through the cramped space. “You gave that order.”

Lucian’s head dropped even lower, but he didn’t defend himself. He seemed as if he couldn’t bear to look at me, or even at himself.

“Was that really necessary?” I asked, my voice breaking with frustration and pain.

Maxwell’s words cut deep, his voice sharp and unrelenting. “But you, fucking, went along with it/ Clay,” he spat, his tone filled with a bitterness I hadn’t heard before. “So shut the fuck up and stop whining like a child. This anger is a little late, don’t you think? She’s gone, and nothing you do now is going to change that!”

His words stung, striking the raw nerve of my own regret. But he wasn’t done.

“They were going to lynch her, Clay,” Lucian spoke up, his voice quieter but no less serious. “If we’d shown her mercy then, they’d have torn her apart themselves. We had to make it clear that we condemned what she did, that we were handling it fairly. It was the only way to keep their trust, to keep them from taking matters into their own hands.”

I wanted to scream, to tear something apart, but I knew they were right. As much as I wanted to blame Lucian, to make him the target of my anger, deep

down, I knew he’d only been doing what he thought was necessary.

The silence that fell over us was thick and bitter, and it clung to us for the rest of the drive. Each of us sank into our own thoughts, lost in the weight of

everything we’d done wrong.

When we finally reached Elsa’s cottage, an eerie chill hung in the air. It wasn’t the ordinary cold of the North but something heavier, something that felt like a bad omen. We hesitated for a moment before pushing forward, making our way to her door. Elsa appeared almost immediately, her eyes ringed with

dark circles, her face drawn with fatigue.

“What’s happened?” Lucian asked, his voice tense. She motioned for us to follow her into her divination room, and we settled in, though the unease only

grew.

“A shift in the wind,” she murmured, her voice low and foreboding, “and it’s not for the better.”

I bit back a frustrated sigh. “First, we find Scarlett,” I said firmly. “We’ll worry about any changes in the wind later.”

Elsa’s gaze snapped to me, and she raised an eyebrow, a trace of dark humour flashing in her tired eyes. “Lose your mate, did you?” she asked, her voice laced with a wry amusement. “She isn’t some object you misplaced. Try saying she ran from the three of you. Now that sounds closer to the truth.” She let out a dry laugh that grated against the tension in the room.

I clenched my fists, barely holding back a retort. There was no humor in any of this, yet Elsa seemed to find some. She took a seat, folding her hands in her lap as she looked us over, her expression growing serious again.

“What did you do?” she asked, and her gaze drifted to Lucian, the silent accusation in her eyes unmistakable.

Lucian swallowed, the shame visible on his face as he began to recount the events. He told her everything–Gregory’s manipulations, the Elders‘

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Chapter 103

invoferment, Scarlett’s attempt to escape, the deaths that followed. He spoke slowly, the weight of each word tinking into the room By the time he forthed, Elsa’s expression had shifted from mild curiosity to sadness, a deep disappointment that only made the shame we felt more acute.

“She was pushed too far,” Elsa muined, her voice thick with sorrow. “I don’t know what you expected her to do when she was left without hope. And now you want to bring her back?”

“We have to,” I said, the words coming out like a desperate plea. “She’s our mate. Ste belongs with us.”

Elsa’s eyes softened, but there was still a steely edge in her gaze. “It won’t be that simple, Clay. Even if you find her, even if you bring her back… things have changed. She’s changed. You may not like what you find.”

Her words settled over me like a heavy fog. But I didn’t care how much she’d changed. I’d find her, and I’d do whatever it took to make things right.

Comments

1 Commenta >

Michele Gremillion

that will take a lot of hard work. she no longer has faith in them or the people of the north. she will trust nobody anymore.

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7 days ago

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