The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 82: I was trying to protect you

"Damar isn’t the one I need protection from. It’s you!"

Silence fell so heavily that it felt like the forest behind us had stopped breathing itself.

But the breeze blew and the leaves rustled.

This wasn’t about the forest going still, but about the heaviness that had dropped on our hearts.

Kaelor stared at me as though I’d just struck him across the face.

"What?" he whispered, his voice sounding broken and filled with disbelief.

Damar did not move; he simply kept his eyes on me while keeping his guard up against Kaelor.

He looked touched. Probably because it was the first time someone was standing up for him, but whatever it was, I wanted him to know that I was and would forever be on his side.

Even if that meant going against my entire tribe.

Damar’s tail coiled around my waist, tightening instinctively as if trying to keep me in reach, in case Kaelor did something unpredictable.

I could feel his muscles tensing, ready to move the instant Kaelor did. Yet he didn’t pull me back. He let me stand there, just trusting. Trusting me.

Kaelor, after staying silent with his eyes staring in disbelief, laughed once, breathless and disbelieving.

"You don’t know what you’re saying." He said. "You’re shaken. You’re scared, I know. He put fear into you, Arinya, that’s why you’re lashing out."

He acts like he knows it all. Like he can see through me, but he doesn’t know it well. He... Can’t see the obvious.

"Yes, I am scared," I said quietly.

His eyes softened immediately, hope flashing there as if I had just handed him a trophy for best clairvoyant brother.

"But not of him." The addition made the hope shatter in an instant.

"What... What are you saying?"

I clenched my fists, grounding myself, refusing to retreat now that I’d finally stepped forward and was moving my body with no restrictions.

"I was scared when you grabbed me," I continued. "I was scared when you shouted at me instead of listening. I was scared when you decided what happened to me without even asking."

Kaelor’s jaw tightened.

"I was trying to protect you." He defended but I spat out,

"No," I said. "You were trying to own me."

The words tasted bitter at the top of my tongue, but though bitter, they felt good.

His breath hitched as he said the most cliché line one would see in a novel.

"I’m your brother."

"And that’s exactly why this hurts," I shot back, tears burning my eyes again but not falling this time. "Because I trusted you. Because I thought your concern came from love, not control."

My clenched fists trembled, and I bit the inside of my mouth, fighting the tears that threatened to fall.

"I am grateful that you were there at some point. I am grateful that you were not part of the people who threw rocks at me, mocked me, and told me to act more like a female. But that mercy only chained me to your affection. It made me more miserable than if you had hurt me outright. If you were going to make me love you, then you should’ve done it right and not leave me in the void, with no air and no light."

I could only bear to think of the heavy emotions that weighed on my heart.

They weren’t mine but I felt them so much it hurt like hell.

"Anyways, I’m grateful for all that but thanks to that, I was able to meet Damar and learn what it means not to be chained by affection. What it means to love freely."

"Ari," Damar called softly, having not expected my words.

Though I said all of that, guilt pricked me.

Sure, Kaelor did what he did, but the one who made the first move, the one who turned his light dictatorship into something obscene, was none other than Arinya herself.

But whether Kaelor secretly induced those thoughts and feelings into her, I am not entirely sure of.

Just seeing how he responded now, after finding a mate for her out of ’goodwill’ raises my suspicion more and more.

What empty heart? What confusion?

He looks like a beast who has a clear goal so I can’t be fooled by his brotherly show of affection.

Kaelor gritted his teeth but still did not back down.

He let out a breath, calming himself so he could make rational decisions, and then extended his hand. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"I made a mistake." He suddenly admitted. "I realize I hurt you, Arinya. And I did something despicable so I’ll understand if you end up hating me."

My eyes widened and a gasp escaped me.

What was he doing now?

He was apologizing?

He had suddenly calmed himself and was doing something like this, trying to get me to his side again.

He was far more rational than I thought.

"But you don’t understand how dangerous he is." He said. "He’s a snake and we can’t trust snakes. Or... Did he bewitch you through some form and you don’t see him for what he is? If so, I’ll free you right away."

I stayed silent for a second and tilted my head.

If the fact that I got mesmerized by his body and face, and enchanted by those silver locks on his head, can be called bewitching, then yes, I was certainly bewitched.

But none of that has anything to do with the way my heart beats for him right now.

"I do see him as a snake," I said.

"Then—?"

"And I chose him anyway." I cut him short.

"Why?"

It seemed Damar had already heard enough and wanted to make his move to protect his dear wife.

He leaned down slightly, his voice low, dangerous, but restrained.

"Enough." He said but Kaelor snapped his gaze towards him, rage reigniting on that calm face of just now.

"Stay out of this."

But Damar wasn’t one to flinch just because Kaelor raised his voice a little bit.

"You ask for forgiveness now, but you definitely were in your right mind when you made her cry, so what right do you have now to call me a beast?" Damar replied coldly. "At least," he leaned down, his chin dropping above my head as he said with cold eyes. "...I never made her cry."