Chapter 54: An apology.
June 26 2026, 10:32am.
Nyx’ara, who was not a stranger to fear, felt her body snap into sharp focus when she saw Seraphina standing with the Alphas and staring into the room with her head slightly bowed.
Even from this distance, she could feel the angst, the annoyance, and the barely concealed rage emanating from Seraphina in waves so intense that they made her throat feel tight.
Her heart jumped into her mouth when all five of them slowly made their way into the room with Seraphina leading the way like a lamb being led to the slaughter...
Only in this case, Nyx’ara was the lamb. She would always be the lamb.
"Luna..." the words rang out, tasting like bile on Seraphina’s tongue and feeling like dry ice on Nyx’ara’s skin.
Her eyes snapped open in shock, her body instinctively pushed further into the bed and her body shook slightly— ever so slightly, she hoped no one saw. Azriel and Draven did.
"...I am sorry."
For a couple of seconds after that, no one spoke. Nyx’ara didn’t dare move. Her eyes darted from one brother to the other, only stopping to rest on the loose strand of hair on Seraphina’s forehead.
Her voice was tight as she slowly lifted her head, cast one hurried glance at Seraphina, and muttered; "I-I am sorry too."
Hell, she should not have been apologizing, but she was scared out of her mind. Somehow, she could still remember the look in Seraphina’s eyes during their fight. Her claws, her curled lower lip.
Her breath hitched and goosebumps spread over her skin all over again as she lowered her head, her voice small as she muttered; "I-I was wrong."
"You weren’t." Draven’s voice was sharp. Devoid of any emotion. His deep blue eyes latched onto her face and held as if trying to see into her soul.
Through the mate bond, he could feel her fear but that was all. There was no guilt. No remorse. No nothing because there shouldn’t be one to begin with.
"...we pulled out the CCTV footage of what happened there... And you were innocent. Seraphina was wrong so she’s here to apologize."
At that, her eyes shot up to meet his. However, before she could respond to him, he added; "We’ll leave you both to talk."
’No!’ Nyx’ara wanted to scream at him but for some reason, her throat felt glued shut. Her heartbeat picked up speed as Seraphina inched closer and from here, she could see how an ’apology’ was the last thing this woman was here for.
She could see how hard her eyes were... how cold and that made a shiver run down her spine.
Draven’s eyes dragged along her body, resting for a second too long on her bandaged shoulder and then he said coolly; "We’ll be a couple of rooms away..." Then, turning to Seraphina, he added; "...don’t do anything stupid."
And with that, they walked off and shut the door behind them, leaving both women to stare at each other with unhidden contempt.
A stifling silence settled between them for a long time, and after what felt like an eternity for Nyx’ara, Seraphina suddenly broke it by saying; "You pushed me... you know you did."
For a moment, Nyx’ara lay there, stunned beyond reasonable expectation and unable to wrap her head around how Seraphina was trying to make it out to be her fault. Her eyes would not leave Seraphina’s face in fear of getting attacked all of a sudden and her nails dug into her sheets until her knuckles were as white as the beddings.
She rasped; "You k-know I did not. If any-anything, I apologized."
"Just now? You mean that half-assed apology?"
"N-no. That day. I apologized f-for bumping into you but you were so blinded by your rage, you didn’t hear me... or maybe you pretended not to."
Before Seraphina could snap out of her momentary daze, Nyx’ara continued. Her voice was sharper this time. Braver even. But she was shaking so badly, she could barely notice how much less her stutter was becoming with each word she spoke.
"And that is because you hate me... but why?"
For a moment, only silence reigned. Both women stared at each other, their eyes swirling with several different emotions.
Seraphina, in all her twenty-six years of living, had never been embarrassed or chastised as she was right now. Her eyes held hate and anger... but beyond it was regret— something she has never felt before.
Then all of a sudden, she began to chuckle. She threw her head back and laughed so hard her eyes teared up. Her silken strands fell around her face as her head bobbed up and down, making her appear ethereal... only for a moment until her eyes hardened one more time and her laughter ceased.
Nyx’ara stared at her like she was insane. And it wasn’t until she had laughed to her fill that she stopped, pressed her hand against her stomach, and hissed; "Why? Did you just ask me why?"
"Yes, why?" Nyx’ara voiced but her tone had grown softer. Quieter. "Why d-do you hate m-me so much!"
A bite slipped into her tone as she spat: "Ten years..."
Nyx’ara frowned. "Huh?"
"For ten years I played the part of a devoted friend, girlfriend and partner to the Alphas. I even tried my best to become a friend and sister to Leilani, their deceased sister... and the same woman you had murdered in cold blood."
A shudder ran through Nyx’ara’s body as she heard that, but schooling her features so as not to betray her emotions, she coughed.
Seraphina continued: "...yet what did I get in return...?
When Nyx’ara would not respond right away, she snapped; "Scorn."
"Nobody scorned you."
"Oh, they did!" She clapped back, interrupting Nyx’ara so fiercely that the latter had no other choice but to clamp her lips shut.
"They did when they brought in a filthy murderer like you into the pack and decided to marry you right in front of everyone. They did when they forced me to organise the wedding ceremony even after knowing how I felt about them... and they did when they watched Elodie make a mockery of me at the party, laughing at me for ruining our friendship just to become what? Their toy!"
That made Nyx’ara snap her lips shut because truthfully, there was nothing she could ever say to make someone who would never like her see her in a different light.
She lifted her gaze to meet Seraphina’s and the look she found there had her breath freezing. There was so much contempt and sadness and a vulnerability that Nyx’ara had never expected to see, and it was so bad, it was almost physically painful to look at.
"None of that is my fault." Nyx’ara finally said after a moment and as soon as those words slipped out, the sadness in Seraphina’s eyes disappeared, morphing into a look so deadly, so twisted and so cold, it would have frozen hell.
"Yeah!" She snapped, rising to pull herself to her full height.
Gone was the vulnerability that once existed on her face. In was her usual proud stance.
"It isn’t your fault but mine. It is my fault I let you live. It is my fault I was never vocal enough about my feelings for the Alphas in the first place and hoped to let things happen more naturally. It is my fault that I allowed Leilani to visit your pack when I could have stopped her and all of these would have never happened... Yes, it is all my fault and I will rectify those mistakes."
Her voice boomed through the room, sounding almost triumphant and self-assured, and something about that sent a shiver straight to Nyx’ara’s spine.
However, before she could ask what that meant, Seraphina turned and walked out of the room, leaving Nyx’ara reeling in shock and fear. Her body thrummed as she watched Seraphina go, a mixture of annoyance and horror twisting so deep inside of her that it made her chest tighten.
For some reason, she felt it somewhere in her bones that that was a threat. It wasn’t just words.
She could feel it.