Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 79: Null.

Leilani.

I woke up to the sound of beeping monitors and to a nasty headache brewing at the back of my skull. Sitting up, I glanced around me only to realize that I was in a hospital room, with an IV containing a dark crimson liquid connected to my vein and a whole bunch of multivitamins stacked at my bedside table.

I vaguely remembered the events of last night. How I had been taken hostage by Kael and Caelum who still thinks I am responsible for Chalice’s child loss. I also couldn’t shake out the shock I’d felt when I realized that my supposed saviour was their brother, Zevran, and how worried he had seemed when he brought me in.

"You’re awake?" A deep groggy voice snapped me out of my reverie. My heart pounded against my chest as I slowly turned to see who it was, gasping when I was met with a swollen-eyed Zevran whose hair looked as rough as a bird’s nest.

His dark rimmed eyes stared at me intently for a moment and then he whispered; "Do you feel pain anywhere?"

’Around my ribs’ I thought but I couldn’t bring myself to speak.

Did he sleep here?

Why’s he being so kind to me?

Is this some sort of game?

These questions and more plagued my mind as I watched him quietly, as if waiting for the exact moment his mask would slip away and he would jump me. He didn’t.

Instead, he tilted his head to the side, a small frown tugging at his eyebrows as he asked; "Leilani, are you okay?"

And then he smacked his lips, snorting; "Sorry, that is a very stupid question. You shouldn’t be okay. But tell me, what’s wrong?"

Still I didn’t speak. I couldn’t. I didn’t trust him. And maybe that was obvious because he then sighed, dropped his head and whispered; "I am sorry for what happened between you and my brothers."

Ha! Finally the cat was out of the bag!

I frowned, watching him, looking for signs that he was lying... anything, just anything including the most insignificant twitch of his brows that would give him away and that I could hold on to.

But there was nothing.

He continued; "I didn’t know they would do something like that... I wasn’t even aware that they would go that far just to prove a point. And I don’t know what you may have gone through or how you may have felt, but I’m sorry. I’m apologizing on behalf of my brothers and mine... we’re really sorry."

And while I knew he sounded sincere, I also knew that ’agreeing’ meant lying to him, so I shook my head. "Did you sleep here?"

At first, he was visibly stunned by my question, and then he let out a loud sigh, a small smile on his face as he nodded slowly. "Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I want to be here with you. I also wanted to be sure that you were out of danger. I know you may not trust that but it’s true; And after seeing what my brothers did to you, I was mad and I felt guilty... and I could not leave you to yourself."

At the mention of his brothers, my chest hardened. A feeling akin to disgust crept up my skin. Goddess, I could still remember the way had treated me like I was dirt. How they’d drained me without an iota of remorse.

—And how Caelum, oh Caelum the bastard, had kicked me square and hard in the rib, as if desperate to end my life. It’s only a miracle I do not have a broken rib now..

"Get out."

For a second, Zevran froze. His eyes widened as if hurt but then he looked away, sighed and rose to his feet. "I know that what they did was despicable. It’s unforgivable, and while I do not condone it, I’ll have you know it happened because you hurt them first."

"Oh yeah, really?" I exclaimed sarcastically, noticing the way he flushed slightly then nodded quickly.

"Yes. You hurt Chalice—"

"Oh, come on! This plot is old already! I didn’t hurt your stupid wench. I didn’t even touch her!"

"Leilani, I want to believe you. I really want to, but there were eye witnesses there. People— tons of them— who claim to have seen you push Chalice, leading to the death of our child. And even though that doesn’t justify what my brothers did to you, you should understand that they acted that way because they were in their feelings."

"They were in their feelings and decided to kill me?" I snarled, eyeing him with contempt. "So you’re saying that I should understand that their feelings come first before my life?"

Zevran sighed, wiping away invisible sweat from his forehead. "You misunderstand me."

"No, oh, you do. You said I shouldn’t hold it against them because whatever they did, they did because they were mad that I killed their child— your child— even though what they did was try to kill me!"

"You also killed our child!" He snapped. "Or are you forgetting that fact as well?"

I watched him intently, and for the first time ever, I felt nothing. No anger. No hate. No need to justify myself. No disappointment.

Just nothing.

"I didn’t kill anyone." I drawled quietly after a moment of silence. "I never killed anyone. Chalice was never pregnant... and I didn’t push her."

As soon as I said those words, Zevran’s face hardened. He shook his head and soon began to prance around the room for a while. When he finally stopped, he turned to me, disappointment evident in his eyes as he spat;

"You know, I thought you’ll be remorseful. I thought you were not as bad as everyone tries to make you seem. But you are. You’re just as bad as Kael and Caelum. At least they feel remorse for hurting you, I can’t say the same about you."

I blanched. "Really?"

"Yes, really. And you know what, I’m leaving. I’m done trying to see you. I’m done trying to understand you. You can do whatever you want, henceforth. I don’t care!"

His words shouldn’t hurt me this way but they did. They fucking did. I blinked away the tears in my eyes and breathed through the ache in my chest as my gaze met his unflinchingly. I hissed;

"Then go."

Zevran didn’t argue with me. He didn’t even say another word as he turned away from me, but before he could walk out the door, I called out his name, causing him to halt in his tracks and turn to me.

"What?" He snapped.

"Zevran Stormborn, I, Leilani Sinclair, reject you as my mate." I whispered. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

I saw his eyes widen, and noticed how hard he gritted on his teeth. But besides that, he didn’t show any more emotion. He shrugged.

"Well , I don’t. And my brothers aren’t here. So it’s null."