Chapter 50

LIANNA

I was still in my mind as I looked at the ceiling, at least... until I heard two knocks on the door.

"Lianna?" It was Devon's voice that I ended up hearing, which made me stand up, my body moving towards the door, a wide smile forming on my face.

"Devon!" I spoke with a certain happiness, my arms glued to my body, "you came..."

My eyes shifted away from his after that, only for him to approach, his hands going to my arms, sliding down to my hands.

"Of course I came, because... it was rude of me to leave before you woke up." He spoke with a regretful expression, a sigh escaping his lips, "I hope you forgive me for that, by the way, it's just that... I remembered something urgent that I needed to do."

"I figured it was something like that." I spoke without any resentment, my hands holding his with more firmness, "so... don't worry about it, there's no reason for me to have to forgive you."

"You're too good for your own good, Lianna." He seemed to say sincerely, his lips giving a kiss on my forehead, "what I did wasn't worthy of a gentleman."

"Stop that right now, okay?" I smiled as I distanced myself, my body sitting on the bed, my hand patting it so that he would do the same, "you're a busy gentleman, let's leave things like this, okay?"

"If that's what you wish." He spoke as he sat down, "I guess I should accept your proposal."

Devon was strangely courteous at that moment - something that made me wonder about his behavior a little - but at the same time... maybe it was because of guilt, or even... because he thought I would think poorly of him.

But it was obvious that wouldn't happen.

Because... it was Devon after all.

"Are you... okay?" Devon asked me at some point, his body getting closer to mine, his jade eyes looking me up and down. And honestly? Aside from the strangeness I was feeling because he was being too polite, I found it quite cute.

"Yes, I'm fine." I lied, because honestly? My whole body still hurt - and the only difference was that now I was a little more used to it - but still, I didn't want to worry him either.

"Well, I'm glad then." He let out, one of his hands now stroking my hair, "but how's your day going, huh? Anything new happened?"

I snorted.

"Oh boy, you have no idea." I spoke with some revolt, but taking a deep breath before everything, "alright, let's start from the beginning. First I woke up startled because I remembered Emily, feeling like complete shit, and thinking I was a horrible sister, you know? So much so that I started changing like crazy," I started gesturing with my hands as I recounted the events, "then out of nowhere, Caleb showed up in the room, for whatever reason."

"Did he do something to you?" Devon asked right away, a mix of anger and concern seeming to fill his being.

"Oh? No, no... he just helped me because I was upset, and he offered to take me to Emily, can you believe it? It was quite a sweet gesture from him, actually." I let slip, and even though those green eyes were making it clear that they wanted to express their own opinion, Devon's mouth remained silent, "so much so that he stayed by my side in the carriage, and I started searching for Emily like crazy, and I thought she had turned into ashes, can you believe it? She was picking herbs to take care of the injured," I said with some pride in my tone, "I spent some time hugging her, and she also said she was worried about me... that warmed my heart, and when we had to leave - and obviously I didn't want to - Caleb also said he would try to take care of everything, can you believe it?" I couldn't help but say, with a mix of surprise and joy, "but then, when we finally returned to the ship, guess what? Caleb's fiancée was there."

"Here we go." He uttered, as if he already knew what it was about.

"Yes, she was there, arms crossed, waiting for Caleb, and she even had the audacity to talk about me as if I were nothing, a piece of shit that interrupted the perfect breakfast she had planned with her fiancé."

"It's Kalia Hanover, nothing less should be expected," Devon spoke with clear disdain, his long bangs being thrown back, "she's a well-known noble among werewolves, don't get too affected by that, she's like that even with her own kind."

"I figured." I sighed, "but Caleb also seemed tired of being around her, did he start treating me that way because... she came here? And started causing him a lot of stress?"

"Look..." Devon looked away, his eyes going to the ground as he took a deep breath, "honestly? Caleb - at least from what you described - is always like that, whether his fiancée is around or not." Resentment now seemed to be in every syllable of his tone, his head tilting slightly to the side before he raised his face to look at me, "so, honestly? This good action he had? I see it more as an isolated incident, or even... your mind trying to convince you that your captor is a good person."

I raised one of my eyebrows.

"You think so? But it seemed so... genuine to me." I ended up saying, my face turning away, "I don't think it's that, at least... not this time. He had no reason to be nice to me."

As soon as I finished speaking, Devon opened his mouth, only to close it soon after, his expression seeming to scream a clear: "I'm really questioning whether I should tell you this or not."

But... there was no way, right? He really seemed to want to help me, and he really... seemed very concerned about me, about EMILY.

It wasn't all in my head.

It wasn't an isolated incident.