Scarlett (Second Edition) by Karima Saad Usman novel Chapter 167

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walk away.

enter

“If you won’t let us help you, at least talk to our seer, be called after me. “She’s here, and the can guide on she’s been through a by herse

It was almost tempting, the thought of talking to someone who wasn’t tangled in the webs of my past. But I didn’t repond, didn’t give him the nerfastnes of knowing he’d gotten through to me. I kept walking.

When I finally reached my room, I noticed the lock had been fixed. A tray of food sat on a small tabin, waiting for me. I d barely closed the door when heard Lucian’s voice in my mind, his tone filled with a nervous edge.

“Maxwell and I… we made this meal ourselves. We can come in and taste it for you, if you like, Clay fixed yra tark. All the bays are be the bed its wee carried a tentative tone, almost fearful, as if he expected me to lash out, to refuse the gesture completely.

I didn’t bother responding, nor did I lock the door. I wasn’t afraid of anyone. Not anymore. Only a fool would dare try to cross me slow. The thought was strangely comforting, even as I let the silence settle around me, as heavy as the distance between us.

I glanced at the food on the tray, noticing the small details-the careful arrangement, the rich aroma. I could see that effort had been poured into each dish, as if they’d hoped to communicate what words couldn’t. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t famished; hunger gnawed at me, relentless and insistent. So, with a sigh, I decided to eat. But as I picked up my fork, Clay’s scent-warm, like cinnamon and earth-seemed to wrap itself around me lingering from the shirt he’d lent me. It pulled me back into memories, into feelings I’d rather leave behind.

Unable to shake the effect it had on me, I pulled off his shirt, tossing it aside as if ridding myself of his presence. I walked to the shower, needing to scrab his scent off my skin, to cleanse myself of the past that clung to me like a shadow.

I didn’t linger long; the food was already cold, and while I could heat it up with magic, I didn’t trust myself to let my powers free, not after what had just happened in the woods. Taking a deep breath, I focused, a faint warmth in my palms bringing the food back to life, steaming gently. At least this magic was safe.

I took my first bite, savoring the taste, and I couldn’t deny the care that had gone into it. But as I sat there in silence, the loneliness of it crept in. I was eating alone, and that emptiness made the food seem bland, the warmth hollow. I’d never had to eat alone before-not until they’d stripped away everything

and locked me in that room.

I’d spent two months in isolation, with nothing but my own thoughts and wounds for company. They hadn’t come to check on me, to reassure me to show any sign that I mattered. And now, what was I supposed to do? Forgive them for something they could have prevented? For the hurt they’d allowed to

fester?

Forgiveness was an option I’d extended once, when I had first arrived, unsure and vulnerable. I’d forgiven them for how they treated me when David sold me to them like some object to be passed around. I’d given them a chance, bound myself to them, let them into parts of myself I hadn’t even shared with others. And they’d disappointed me, over and over. I was a fool if I thought forgiving them now would change anything. It was only a matter of time before they’d choose their pack, their elders, their reputation over me again. And I’d be left, an afterthought. But not this time. This time, I was first on my own

list.

“Deal, Midnight?” I said, biting into a piece of roast beef. My wolf stirred, uneasy, not quite agreeing but not protesting, either. “Get used to eating alone. told her, and she let out a quiet, defeated grumble, slipping to the back of my mind.

She had come to me only when things were good, after the worst of my pain had faded. She shared the memories, of course she’d seen the suffering, felt the sting of betrayal through me. But she hadn’t lived through the moments as they happened, hadn’t felt the sharp edges of the helplessness I’d endured. Those wounds were mine alone, fresh and unhealed. I knew I had to keep those memories close, as a reminder of why I could never let them in again.

Ahapter ha

我

The many

her that I wished the ukd wwwkdown with hated, Whey had been so heartlesnt So chowching )

hadn’t ripped apan crything that should haver hat

Iwastes that burden, let to carry in while the rest of the pack lived in peace Only a foul would let has responsibility to hes pack or aga ais mate, arid had been exactly that food, in my blind duty to them, I’d shcrificed the one thing that should thure mattered was.

Ad竦ww物馆ust me, Clay and Maxwell were caught in this tangled web of guilt too, I could see it in thess faces, shadows undes their eyes that no ote notted hourned look that seemed to pull all the colour from them. None of us even had the energy to plan of Gartens’ s rurestual a

It was as if there was ho fight left in us no will to defend what we’d already ton apart Wed thought that finding Scarlett apuas would head as tha woid return to us and bring back what we had lost. But that hope was as empty at we were nok

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