Chapter 49 Chapter 0049

Chapter 49 Chapter 0049
•ANEIRA•

They found Narra three days later.

She hadn't fled the country the way she had promised me she would. She hadn't disappeared or run or tried to become someone else in some city where no one knew her name.

She had gone back to the house where we grew up.

Polly told me this with the same flat expression she used for everything, standing in the doorway of the room where Rafael was still recovering, watching me to see how I would react.

I didn't react. I just looked at my hands for a moment before answering her. "I want to talk to her."

"That's not a good idea," Polly replied.

"I know," I answered. "I still want to."

Rafael was awake by then, propped against the pillows with the kind of stillness that only came from a man who was too stubborn to admit he was in pain.

When Polly left the room he looked at me, and I looked back at him, and neither of us spoke for a moment.

"You don't have to do this," he breathed. "Your sister might hurt you, and I won't be there to protect you."

"Oh, Raf," I sighed as I kissed his cheek. "Do you think I would let you come with me even if you were well enough to take another bullet for me? No, I must talk with Narra."

His jaw tightened. "Aneira—"

"She's my sister, Rafael." I met his eyes. "Whatever she is now, she was still the person I shared everything with before I understood what she thought of me. I need to face her myself. Not through Polly, or through you." I paused. "Me."

He held my gaze for a long time before he nodded.



They brought Narra to the house the following afternoon.

I waited for her in the sitting room off the main hall, the one with the wide windows that looked out over the garden.

I stood against the door and looked at the garden and tried to remember the last time I had felt anything warm toward my sister.

It was probably never.

I heard the door open behind me, and I turned around.

She groaned, trying to free her wrists from the grips of the men who were holding her.

I looked at the men. "Leave us."

They exchanged a glance, then left, pulling the door closed behind them.

Narra and I stared at each other in the silence. She looked like she hadn't slept.

"Aneira," she started. "You and I are sisters. We shouldn't be fighting because of a man who used us both. We still have time to get out of this place and start over somewhere together."

"When were you going to tell me that you killed our mother and planned to win over Rafael?" I scoffed. "You were probably planning to kill me as well, weren't you?"

I walked toward her and stopped a few feet away. I shook my head and couldn't believe I almost agreed to leave with her.

"Our mother deserved what happened to her, Aneira," she answered, her voice cracking. "She blamed you for my death when she knew very well that she was hiding me somewhere."

"Oh, please, Narra," I scoffed, rolling my eyes as I folded my arms across my chest. "Don't act as if you ever cared for me. You know very well that you never considered me as your sister all our lives. You made our mother scold me every night for your own mistakes. So tell me, how are things going to work out between us after all the hate you showed toward me?"

"We were kids, Aneira!" she snapped. "I did everything our mother told me to do because she made me feel as if I didn't have a choice."

"You told me in my face before the accident that you hated me!" I snarled. "Or have you forgotten that?"

"I am sorry, please—"

"Guards!" I called out and they instantly opened the door and walked in. "Take her away."

"Tell these low lives to take their hands off me, Aneira!" she shrieked. "You should sleep with one eye open from now on! I will hunt all of you and kill you!"

The guards took her away that evening.

Rafael had her escorted to the border and released with nothing but the clothes on her back and the understanding that if she ever returned, he would not be generous a second time.

But even though I knew I should be happy about her starting over somewhere alone, I couldn't help but feel as if she were freer than me now.

My thoughts were shortly disrupted by a pair of hands around my waist.

"I hope she didn't offend you."

"No, she didn't," I answered as I turned around and looked at him. "I have you in my life now, Raf. There's only one man with the power to make me angry and happy at the same time."

"And this man loves you," he muttered as he kissed me after joining me in the hot shower.