Levi’s POV
I didn’t stop walking until I was outside.
The door slammed shut behind me, but her words still rang in my head over and over, like knives cutting through me.
"Right now, I’m scared to even leave him alone with you."
I staggered to the hallway wall and pressed a hand against it, trying to breathe. But the air felt too heavy, too thick.
Louis came out a moment later, quiet as always. He didn’t say anything at first. He just stood beside me, watching the floor like he didn’t know how to start.
"She didn’t mean it," he said finally, his voice low as if trying to comfort me.
I let out a short, bitter laugh. "Didn’t she?"
He looked at me, frowning. "You know she’s hurting. You can’t take everything she says right now—"
"I can’t?" I cut him off, turning toward him. "Louis, she said she’s scared of us. Scared we’d kill our own brother!"
The words came out rough, and my throat burned. I dragged my hands through my hair, pacing the hall. "What kind of monster does she think I am?"
Louis didn’t answer. Maybe because he didn’t know either.
I punched the wall hard enough to make my knuckles split. "I did everything to save her, Louis. Everything! And now she looks at me like I’m the enemy."
"She’s not thinking clearly," Louis said quietly, stepping closer. "You know how strong their bond was."
I shook my head, tears stinging my eyes. "That’s the thing, isn’t it? It’s always been their bond. Even when she was with us, it was like there was this invisible wall, something we could never touch."
Louis’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t disagree.
"I thought I could handle it," I said, my voice breaking. "I thought I could live with being the one she turns to second. But hearing her say it—hearing her choose him even when he’s half-dead—it’s..." I swallowed hard. "It’s like dying without ever being allowed to die."
Louis looked down, his fists clenched at his sides. "We made this mess, Levi. We broke the bond. We can’t expect her to forgive us overnight."
I sank down to the cold floor, my back against the wall, my chest heavy. "You think I don’t know that? I hate myself for what we did. For what I did. I keep telling myself it was the only way to save her, but every time I look at her face, I wonder if maybe we should’ve just let her decide her own fate."
Louis crouched beside me, his tone soft. "She’ll come around. When Lennox wakes up, things will change."
I gave a small, empty laugh. "If he wakes up."
Louis looked away, guilt flickering in his eyes. "He will. He has to."
For a moment, we both sat in silence. The only sound was the faint echo of wind against the windows.
Louis’s words broke the silence again. "She still loves us," he whispered, almost like he was trying to convince himself more than me.
I let out a broken breath, staring at my bleeding hand. "Yeah," I said quietly. "But not the same way anymore."
Louis frowned. "You don’t know that."
I gave a bitter smile. "I do. You saw the way she looked at me, Louis. Like I was something she had to protect him from. That kind of look... it doesn’t go away."
He sighed and sat beside me, his back against the same wall. "She’s angry, Levi. Angry, hurt, confused. You can’t blame her for that."
I turned to face him slowly. "I’m not blaming her. I’m blaming us. We should have just let her decide her fate"
Louis stayed silent, his jaw tightening.
I leaned my head back against the wall, closing my eyes. "You know what’s funny? We’ve fought rogues, warlocks, vampires—but none of that hurt as much as hearing her say she’s scared of me."
Louis’s voice softened. "We’ll fix this."
"How?" I asked, my voice cracking. "Even if Lennox wakes up, even if she forgives us—what’s left of us after this?"
He didn’t answer. He just stared ahead, his eyes distant.
The hallway was quiet again, filled only with the faint echo of the wind and our breathing.
After a while, Louis whispered, "You know what scares me?"
Verify captcha to read the content
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Fated To Not Just One But Three