"The Devil's Son?" Evelyn asked, with a perplexed look on her face and tears threatening to drop.
I don't know what to tell her or how to defend myself. I don't know how to make her understand that I was Alaric's mate without her hating me. I don't know how to make her understand that I kept the truth to myself all this time and I had just betrayed her trust in me.
"What's he talking about?" Miriam asked with an awkward yet sad chuckle as her blue eyes urged me to say something.
"Does he mean the devil's son, Alaric?" She asked, waiting for my answer, which didn't seem to be coming out of my mouth. They now know the truth already but were in denial because they didn't want to believe that I had lied to them all this time.
I lifted my head to look at Simon through the rear mirror, and it looked as if he was also confused about why they didn't know who I was. He must have thought that I had told them, but the confusion in his face quickly faded as he closed his eyes and rested his head on the seat.
The driver, on the other hand, acted like he didn't hear anything or was not hearing anything as he continued driving while looking straight ahead at the freeway. I knew he would tell others about what he had just heard when he got back to Latvera, but I wouldn't be going back to Latvera with him.
"It can't be," Evelyn denied.
"Say something," Miriam urged. My silence was deafening to them, but I had no way of explaining it to them without sounding like I betrayed them. I knew how they spoke of Alaric and the hatred that came with mentioning his name, yet I laughed and smiled with them whenever they said something about it.
They'd spoken ill about me in my presence too, and I joined them in talking ill about myself and Alaric because I knew that we deserved the hate they had for us.
"It's true," I muttered, my voice croaking.
"You're Lenora?" Miriam asked in a loud tone, her emotions finally betraying her as tears rushed down her cheeks. They know who I am. I was their greatest enemy, yet they made me their friend and sacrificed their own freedom to help me escape.
"Yes, but it's not what you think it is," I said, but realized that I made no sense. There was no way that I would be able to explain myself to them without sounding like a self-centered fool. Even if I didn't know anything about Addison's death, I would definitely be blamed for it because I was Alaric's mate and I kept the truth away from them.
"You're Lenora," Miriam said, her lips apart and her voice cracking.
"I'm sorry," I sincerely apologized, with my head bowed. I couldn't bring myself to look at their faces as it hurt me to know that I was the cause of their pain. I didn't mean for them to find out this way. I knew that it would hurt them and I didn't want to do that to them, but the damage has been done already.
"I can't believe that I've been standing by the same person who put us into this misery," Evelyn said, as I watched the drops of tears that rolled down her gown in agony.
"It can't just be," she added, her cries getting louder than before. I hated to see them this way. I wished there was something that I could do about it, but I could only try to control my tears in silence while sitting in their midst.
The drive continued for minutes without any words being shared in the car. The air in the car became severely choking and I had to request for the windows to be wound down. Evelyn and Miriam had both been shedding silent tears, and I could tell that they wished I died, or rather would leave for Edessa once the car stopped at the lake.
Simon also didn't say anything, and I was starting to wonder what his reason for coming with me was. He walked out on me back in the castle in front of Holland's door, so why was he here now? He claimed to be here to take me back to Alaric safely, but if he had not come, then I would have still gotten to Alaric without the girls finding out about my secret this way.
I would have told them, but it would have been at a much better time when I could explain myself, but for the time being, all I could do was accept the fact that I was Alaric's mate without being able to defend my innocence in the matter at hand. It wouldn't make any difference to explain things to them right now because they hated anything that had to do with Alaric. They hated the fact that he took away the life of their jolly friend, Addison.
I try to force myself to blame Simon for having told them the truth in this manner, but that would only make me a foolish person. It might not have been my fault that Alaric took their joy away, but it was now my responsibility, and I should have handled it better by telling them the truth right from the beginning.
"We've arrived at Jade Lake, your highnesses." The driver said he parked in a cool spot before coming out of the car to fuel the engine with more water from the lake.
"Why are we here?" Simon asked, but before anyone could say anything, Evelyn opened the door and walked straight down to the lake without looking back.
"Evelyn" I called her name, but she turned deaf ears to my call. She didn't stop or turn her back to look at me as she continued to walk.
Miriam also opened the door to walk after Evelyn without saying anything to me. I sat still in the middle of the car with my head bowed in regret. Perhaps I should have told them the truth right from the start rather than have them feel hurt because of my irresponsibility.
"Something's not right. Stay in the car," Simon said, bringing me out of my thoughts and forcing me to look at his face. His brows were furrowed and his eyes were slowly changing colours while his fur was growing out of his skin.
Something was definitely not right and had triggered his wolf into transforming. Suddenly, I could also sense something. My head started to hurt and my eyes became blurry, but only for a short while. I could tell that Lora was trying to warn me of something. She was trying to warn me of a danger that was lurking.
"We have to leave," I panicked, opening the car door to call Miriam and Evelyn in.
"Evelyn, Miriam, please come back in. Something isn't right here. " I called for them at the top of my lungs, but my screams were falling on deaf ears as they didn't answer me.
"Miriam, Evelyn, please wait!" I yelled. Miriam seemed to have answered me as she stopped walking, but Evelyn continued. It was as if she couldn't hear me at all, it was as if she was in shock and wasn't aware of her surroundings.
"Evelyn..." I yelled while picking up the pace to reach her and bring her back to the car. We could be safe in the car, but just when I was about to run to where she was, a sudden deafening popping sound was heard, and the next thing I could see was Evelyn falling to her knees with her sky blue gown slowly turning red.
My eyes widened in terror as I found myself frozen on the spot. I couldn't move nor could I comprehend what I had just seen as I stared at the horrific sight that was right in front of me with burning tears streaming down my cheeks.
"Lenora, move!" I could hear Simon calling out to me, but my body couldn't move as my whole mind was frozen. Slowly, I turned my head to look at the fast metal object that was moving towards me but before I could come back to my senses. I felt it piercing through my skin, my head hitting against the sandy floor, and my sight went black.