Page 109 of Halfblood Deceived

Aella opened her mouth to protest.

Diana shook her head. “You are a victim, Aella. You were lied to and kept prisoner all your life. You were punished for being curious. You were forced to marry a male who hurt you and tried to break your spirit. You were beaten into submission, gaslighted to Hell and back, and manipulated. And even though you knew you would die, you fought for what was right. You are a victim, a survivor, and a fighter, not a guilty party.”

Aella’s stomach ached. The pain was reminiscent of the several times Micah had kicked her after her ‘useless’ body didn’t work as it ought, according to him. She closed her eyes for a moment, her heart heavy and sore. Taking a bracing breath, she opened her eyes and met her sister’s tearful blue gaze.

She hadn’t wanted to think about it too much before, but ignoring the reason why her sister understood her so perfectly any longer was not an option—Diana had once been like Aella.

Diana had been engaged to a gargoyle male that had almost killed her when she rebelled, just like Aella. Diana had been saved by Kamilla and Kerian—the supposed monsters she had been taught to hate and fear all her life—just like Zeydan, Mari, Aylana, and Sebastian had saved Aella.

And yet, here Diana was. A compassionate, fierce, kind female with a huge heart that had welcomed Aella into her life without a second thought. An independent person with a job she loved, a beautiful home, and friends who were wonderfully different from her and loved her as she was.

If Aella could be just half as brave as Diana, she would be fine. Perhaps never great, but fine.

“Thank you,” Aella whispered. “I’m not sure I fully believe that yet, but thank you for saying it.”

Diana sniffed. “I know it’s hard to believe. It took me long years and a lot of therapy.” She bit her lip. “Would you like to see a therapist?”

Aella shook her head, everything inside her recoiling at the idea.

Diana placed a lock of hair behind Aella’s ear. “It’s fucking bullshit what they taught us, you know? Therapists are not the devil’s minions. The devil isn’t even real, but that’s a story for another day. I know a few therapists who are great people. One of them is a half-Elven female. She helped me.”

Aella blinked. “Elves are real?”

Diana smiled, gently nudging Aella so that she sat at the table and went to the fridge to grab two bottles of chocolate milk. Aella had grown addicted to the sweet beverage in the past few weeks. “Yes, Elves are real. But that’s a bit of a secret and also a conversation for another day. So, would you like to talk to her?”

Aella accepted her chocolate milk from Diana and downed nearly half of it. “No, it feels a lot like a confession and I would like to stay far away from those.”

Diana sipped her beverage and sighed. “Okay, I can understand that, but you need help, honey. You need more than spending every day cooped up in this house.”

Aella knew that too.

An idea sparked in her head. “You mentioned the other day that Kamilla was considering hiring extra personnel. Someone to clean tables and stuff. Do you think she’d hire me?” Aella wrinkled her nose. “Probably not, right? I’ve never gone to school, I don’t even have a high school degree—”

Diana lifted a hand. “Kam doesn’t give a shit about people’s degrees. Only if they’re trustworthy and pass the interview. And I am 100% sure you will.” She smiled, eyes sparkling. “I would love to see you work in Hecate, meet new people, and have you close. I won’t lie. But if you are uncomfortable, you’ll let me know, and we’ll find you something else, okay? Never, and I mean never, force yourself to do something you don’t want for my sake. Or anyone’s, for that matter.”

Aella put up a wall to block the memories of all the things she’d forced herself to do to please others and nodded. “Okay.”

Diana grinned. “So, we’ll have breakfast, then you’ll shower, and we’ll have lunch, and meet Kam at around 5PM.”

“Sounds perfect,” Aella agreed.

Diana hummed, tilting her head. “May I ask now why you have the scent of a male wolf all over yourself now?”

For some bizarre reason, Aella’s cheeks grew hot. “It’s a long story.”

Diana squeezed her cheek before heading toward the kitchen. “You talk while I make French toast with bacon.”

Aella groaned. “You sure know how to bribe me. Alright. I’ll tell you.”

So she did.

CHAPTER 27

Sebastian kicked the back of Zeydan’s legs, sending him off his feet and onto his arse on the mat.

He looked down at Zeydan, who hadn’t bothered picking himself up yet, head tilting. “Alright. I usually have to put quite a lot of effort into knocking you down, but you’ve been getting consistently worse this last week. When was the last time you slept?”

Zeydan ignored Sebastian’s question but accepted Aylana’s offered hand. She pulled him to his feet with incredible ease. Despite being almost half a foot smaller than either of them, the leanly muscled female was strong as Hell and wickedly fast.

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