Chapter 34 034
Chapter 34
Thalia's POV
After hearing everything I had to say, she burst into tears, heavy sobs coming from the very core of her being. Her unfiltered pain clashed with my monotone eyes as I watched and wondered: what was the point of them? That is, the tears. It hadn't changed anything, and it wouldn't anytime soon.
I scraped my knees on the concrete. It dug into my flesh, but I barely flinched.
"Thalia," she finally managed to speak through her cries, wiping her face aggressively with the back of her hand. "I promise I'll get you out of here as soon as possible."
There was sincerity overflowing in her words—something I had never expected to get from her again after knowing that she was more or less selling me over to my in-laws just to escape debt. Perhaps that was part of the reason why she wanted me out of here, so that I could once again be more or less collateral to all of her bad decisions to avoid payments.
"What's the point?" I said, my arms falling limply by my sides. "Is there even a life within me beyond these bars?"
She was quiet. She tucked her upper lip into the bottom one, sucking on it for a while before releasing it along with a long sigh. "Let's take everything one step at a time. Just one step at a time. Anything, everything can be resolved with time."
The void looking in my eyes must have been interpreted by her as pressing for information, though I wasn't particularly curious about what I could not change. She ended up hitting me with a tsunami of information. Turns out, all the time I have been locked down here, unable to give my own side of the story, Varian had become more open in his relationship with Shelly.
And it didn't stop there. My mother coughed, her throat swelling with emotion and blocking her words, but eventually she spoke through that emotion, even if it left most of her words almost hard to grasp as they traveled past her lips.
"He has been going around subtly implying that you were the one unfaithful to him and your mate bond. It was so horrible to hear. I couldn't believe those words were coming from him. That’s how I know that he was definitely being manipulated by Shelly."
"I'm sure that, Mom. Not only is Varian a full-grown man and adult, but he is also the Alpha of the pack. Do you think that he would be so easily manipulated?"
Her brows creased with momentary thoughts and she brushed her knuckles, continuing to lay the blame on Shelly’s doorstep. It was beginning to annoy me because both of them were equally responsible for imploding my life, and it was only one of them that I had made a promise of forever with. Only one of them that I had shared several passionate nights with, my deepest fears and flaws. Only one of them that I had given everything, all for it to be crushed underfoot.
I shot the thoughts away from my mind. What was the use? The pain? The regrets? What did it give me at the end? I was struck back to bitter reality as my mother's shaky palm grasped my shoulder. My first feeling of warmth for days, yet when she touched me, it was as filling as reaching into a void.
"I've talked to Varian. It took some time to finally have some one-on-one time with him, but I was able to leverage my position as his Beta. He says he will release you today, but under one condition."
"What condition?" I said with flat curiosity.
She gulped. "He said, "Apologize to Shelly."
Varian's voice cut into our conversation, and following it was a dramatic sigh. "Varian, please don't be like this. I told you that I had already forgiven her. In fact, I would prefer if you just released her without the apology."
I didn't need to lift my head to see who had arrived. The same people who were the cause of my being behind bars. They had come down here for what? To spit on me while I was already at my lowest? My mother stood up, backing away, and took a bow towards Varian. Instead of responding to the greeting naturally, he grunted at her.
"Are you not going to greet Shelly as well?"
Shelly's syrupy voice piped up. "Varian, enough. You are doing too much. After all, she is the Beta of this pack, and I have not yet become your—"
She purposely stopped there, her smug expression splattered over my back. She diverted the conversation over to me as my eyes remained engaged with the floor. I began drawing invisible circles, mentally counting the seconds before they would probably leave. So she was fine. She had acted as if I had delivered a mortal wound when I pushed her, but she was completely fine and even chirpier than I remembered.
"Thalia, I forgive you. I know the last time we were face-to-face like this, emotions were high and you did something you shouldn't have. But as long as you promise to change, as long as you promise to..."
"Get away from me." My words fell without punch, without anything. They were as achingly empty as my heart, carved out by my mate's betrayal.
She sighed. "Can I have a moment alone with her?"
She was hardly finished when Varian stepped in protectively. "No, I won't allow that. You already saw what she did when I was right next to you. How could I leave you alone with a woman like that? I would not be able to stand it—to hold myself this time—if she were to lay a finger on you."
"I'll make sure to keep a safe distance between both of us. I just want to talk to her. I know, I know I can get through to her. Just give me a chance."
His eyes nearly burned over the first layer of my skin. "Five minutes, Shelly.
Make sure she understands this is her last chance."