Chapter 81: The Other Sister's Rage Pt. 4

Recollecting that night was something that I had done quite often since it happened. It really put things in perspective for me about how much Valene had gone through.

“I wasn’t-I…am not the only one suffering, Penny. Sure, I’ve lost a mother but…Valene has…she has lost just as much, if not more.”

“How can you say that?” asked Penny. “She still has both her parents!”

“And lived most of her life as a slave to her own father,” I reminded her. “Branded like a bloody gopher when-”

“But Harly, she-”

“Living with the fact that her parents didn’t want her. Thinking that all this time, then…being killed? How do you not see her pain?” I asked.

The nerve of me…asking such a question when I refused to see it all this time. I felt a bit of shame.

“I do,” answered Penny. “I see her pain.”

I was surprised to hear this.

“I just….don’t care.”

This…was what I had expected. Doesn’t mean that it wasn’t disheartening to hear.

“Penny-”

“No, Harlyn! Listen, this whole dysfunctional family reunion has completely blinded you to the fact that that gopher is just human in inhuman skin! She’s not one of us! She’ll never be one of us! Like me! Like you! Talon?!” she growled, her true feelings seeping through. “You’ve always doted on that loser! Always acting like her opinions mattered more to you than mine! I hate her! She should have never come here! She should have never been born! She…she….she should have stayed dead!”

There it was…the truth.

She finally said it.

“You did it…didn’t you?” I asked calmly.

Yes, of course, I already knew the answer to my question, but….I wanted her to confess. I wanted to see this with my own eyes.

Tears began to mist her eyes, her mouth tightly pursed shut. She looked away. Was it shame? Or fear?

She finally looked back at me. “I…I did it for you! I did it for you Harly! She was blinding you! Turning you against us! Against me!”

I scoffed. “Now we get to the crux of it all. You,” I said. “It was always about you.” I chuckled, shaking my head how ridiculous her excuse was. “And what exactly was your aunt getting out of this assassination attempt?” I asked her.

Penny’s eyes widened in surprise. She apparently didn’t realize that I knew that she wasn’t the only one with dirty hands.

“Oh, did you really think that I thought you of all people had the initiative or even the brains to pull this off alone? I should applaud you for at least trying to take the cred to keep your aunt safe. At least that’s what I’m assuming.”

Penny had nothing to say. She was speechless.

“Vali would have killed you without blinking an eye. I mean…if it were just you that is. I have no doubts that she would have dispatched you both without batting a lash, so I know that you snuck up on her-but….” I approached her. “You know what really bothers me, Pen?” I asked.

She started to back away from me. Penny was afraid.

“You stood there…face to face…spoke to me…so casually.” Guilt began to surface again as I recalled that day. “You had her in that trunk…grasping at the hope that I would save her-that someone would save her…She died an agonizing death,”

“Ha-Harly…pl-pl-please!” She began to beg. “I..I only did this for you,” she whimpered.

“Hm,” I sighed, and shook my head. “I just…I can’t believe that. I don’t,” I said to her.

“But Harly, I did. I was only trying to protect you from her poison. You know that I-”

“Penny,” I cut her off. “Do you remember that day…at school, when…when I said that if you ever…disrespect Vali again….I’d….cut out your tongue….” I tilted my head as I watched her mouth the rest of that day. “Mail it to your father, yes.”

“Harly, please.”

“I’m sure my sister tried to plead-”

“No! She-”

“Whether she did or not,” I interrupted. “She shouldn’t have had to. When you and your aunt took matters into your own hands, you broke the law. I have every right to kill you. Right. Now.”

“Harlyn. We’re best friends! Please don’t-”

Her words were cut off by my swift hand lodging into her chest. Penny’s body went rigid as I held her beating heart in my hand.

She began to cry and without even knowing at first, so did I.

“You are…my best friend Penny, but Vali is my sister, and she always has been. I warned you. I did.”

She stopped talking as I assume she knew that there was no use in trying to convince me not to kill her.

But I couldn’t.

I wiped the tears from my eyes and chuckled bitterly. “She told me…she told me that this would be hard…that when it came down to it, it wouldn’t be so easy to do what needed to be done.” A stressed breath left my body as I faced a steadily paling Penny.

Then, I finally made a decision.

“Your life…is not mine to take,” I came to the conclusion. A conclusion that, admittedly, a part of me was thankful for.

I aggressively yanked my hand from her chest, leaving her heart in tact, but Penny was severely injured. She fell to her knees, eyes wide and I know racking with excruciating pain.

“But I am not going to help you. I am going to leave you here,” I said as I looked down at her defenseless form. “Just like you left Vali. And if someone comes for you, so be it, if they don’t,” I shrugged. “I guess we’ll see how long you can last before your body fully heals.” I started to walk away and then thought of something. “You say Vali is weak, that she will never be one of us…” I looked down at Penny as she lie helpless on the ground. “You’re right. I’d argue that she’s better.”

I turned my back and left Penny in the forest.

Quickly, I walked over to the waves after surfacing from the forest, and washed the blood away. Then I headed back to daddy and the others.

Talon was there, and so was Vali.

“Hey!” I greeted with a smile.

“Hey,” Talon said with a small smirk, buckling my knees as he so effortlessly always did.

“Where have you been?”

When Vali asked me this question, I looked at her, tried to hide the truth behind my eyes, but I knew that she saw it.

“Just…went for a walk,” I said.

It wasn’t a complete lie.

She surveyed me for a second, and that was all it took for her to notice something off. Was it a spot of blood? Probably.

Then her words burst through my thoughts with great concern.

“Harly…what did you do?!”