The Professor's Mate Clause novel Chapter 80

CHAPTER 80

FREYA’S POV

Emma has been with us for a week and she’s not adjusting well.

She barely speaks. Barely eats. Stays in her room most of the time. The few times I’ve seen her she looks hollow. Empty. Like her sister’s death took everything that made her Emma

I know that feeling. The grief. The guilt. The wondering if you could have done something different. Something that would have changed everything

Clara says to give her time. That grief takes as long as it takes. That pushing won’t help

But I can’t just leave her alone. Can’t let her drown in guilt and loss without at least trying to reach her.

So I knock on her door. “Emma? It’s Freya. Can I come in?”

Silence. Then. “I guess.”

I open the door. She’s sitting on the bed. Staring at nothing. Dark circles under her eyes. Hair unbrushed. She looks like she hasn’t slept in days.

“I brought food.” I hold up a tray. “Clara made your favorite. Grilled cheese and tomato soup. You should eat something.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You need to eat anyway. Can’t let yourself waste away. Lyra wouldn’t want that.” I set the tray on the nightstand. Sit on the edge of the bed. “Talk to me Emma. Tell me what you’re feeling.”

“What’s the point? Talking won’t bring her back. Won’t change what happened.” Her voice is flat. Emotionless. “She’s dead because of me. Because I wasn’t strong enough to escape Asher on my own.”

“She’s dead because Asher is a monster who uses people as weapons. Because the world is cruel and unfair. Not because of you.” I touch her hand. “You didn’t choose to be captured. Didn’t choose to be used as leverage. That was done to you. Not by you.”

“But if I had been stronger. Braver. If I had fought harder-”

“You were fifteen. Alone. Held hostage by a psychopath. What were you supposed to do?” I squeeze her hand. “Lyra made her choice. She chose to protect you. That was her decision. Her sacrifice. You can’t take that from her by blaming yourself.”

Emma finally looks at me. Eyes wet. “How do you do it? How do you keep going when people die because of you

“Is that what you think? That people have died because of mę?

“Adrian told me. About the pack members who died in the rescue. About the wolves Asher killed trying to recapture you. About all the bloodshed and death that followed you here.”accusing. “How do you live with that?”

I take a breath. “Honestly? Some days I don’t know. Some days the guilt is overwhelming. I wake up thinking maybe I should just leave. Go back to being nobody. Let Adrian and the pack be safe without me.”

“Why don’t you?”

“Because running away won’t bring them back. Won’t undo the deaths. Won’t make anything better.” I meet her eyes. “And because the people who died? They chose to fight. Chose to protect me. Chose to stand against Asher. I can’t dishonor that choice by giving up. By letting their sacrifice be meaningless.”

“So you just… keep going? Even when it hurts?”

“Especially when it hurts. That’s what surviving means. Carrying the pain. Carrying the guilt. Carrying the memory of everyone we’ve lost. And using it to fuel us. To make us stronger. To make sure their deaths weren’t in vain.” I brush hair from her face.”

Lyca died protecting you. The best way to honor her is to live. To be strong. To become the person she believed you could be.”

Emma is quiet for a long moment. Then. “She told me something. Before I was taken. Before everything went wrong.”

“What did she tell you?”

“That Asher was planning something big. Something that would change everything. She didn’t know details but she knew it involved you. Involved destroying Adrian’s pack completely.” Emma’s voice shakes. “She said Asher was obsessed with you. With proving that hybrids are abominations. That he wouldn’t stop until you were dead and Adrian was destroyed.”

My blood runs cold. “Did she say when? Or how?”

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