Chapter 25
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I’m getting ready for school, and my phone has not stopped ringing all night between my grandmother and Santiago. I had to turn the ringer off. I am currently having breakfast, waiting for the Prince to come down, and I can’t ignore her anymore. It isn’t polite, and she’ll probably let me know as soon as I answer.
“Good morning, Grandmother. I apologize for missing your calls last night. I took some melatonin after the alphas left.”
“Are you sure you weren’t just ignoring me?” she asks, sounding every bit of frustration I’ve felt with her every time I called, and she was too busy out there being someone else’s Grandmother.
“I could never,” I lie. I know she can tell, but honestly, I’m not in the mood to care. “How can I help you?”
“I-” she pauses for a long time.
“Hello? Did it cut off?” I ask.
“I am here. I just-” she lets out a heavy sigh. “It was brought to my attention that, perhaps, I’ve been a little too hard on you since the passing of your parents.”
“Someone brought that to your attention?” I clear my throat and laugh.
This is not a conversation that needs to happen over the phone, and I am willing to bet that it was the King who made her aware of her actions. It’s probably the only reason why she’s calling. Her favorite person told her off, and she wants to make it up to him by apologizing to me.
“Yes, just last night, and I would like to apologize.”
“It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize. I’m used to it,” I try to dismiss it.
“Sophie,” she says, as if I were the one being difficult.
“Grandma, if someone had to bring it up to you and you yourself don’t see it, the apology is not going to be worth much. It feels a lot more like you care about the opinion of this person more than you care about how you’ve made me feel.”
“Sophia, it was never my intention to make you feel as if I didn’t care. You are my granddaughter.”
“Okay, apology accepted. I have to go. I have class in a bit, and I don’t like to be late.”
“Yes, of course, I will be home soon. Perhaps I can help you-”
“It’s fine. Take your time. I know how important what you’re doing is. Have a good evening or whatever time it is where you
are.”
I don’t let her say anything else because the day is just beginning, and I already feel the knot in my belly threatening to ruin my day.
“That was kind of rude of you, Sophie,” the Prince finally makes himself known.
“You think so?” I smile and slip on my hoodie.
“Hey,” he stops me. “So what if someone brought it up to her? Her instinct was to call you to try and apologize.”
“And my instinct was to protect myself from all the times she came here acting like she gave two fucks about me, only to shut me down and send me away to a private school where she only called me once a month at a time I needed her the most. I don’t need her to coddle me anymore. I’m not a little girl.”
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3:57 pm
Chapter 25
“But you still called her when you needed her,” he reminds me.
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“It was life and death, Ivar. I wouldn’t have called under any other circumstance. I’ll probably stay in Blackstone until school is over before I can relocate for my residency.”
“You’ve got your life all figured out, huh?” he scoffs.
“Why does that bother you?” I ask, annoyed that he’s taking her side on this.
Not that he owes me his allegiance. It bothers me that everyone thinks she’s this great person because she works for the Lycan King.
“Because you’ve set this insane boundary between you and your grandmother, and left yourself wide open for the Romanos to destroy you,” he growls.
“They were the only ones that ever showed up for me after my parents died. When Zaraphine Helvig showed up, all she did was check her watch and act like it was the biggest fucking burden she’s ever had to put up with since allowing my father to marry a fucking werewolf. And don’t even get me started on the way she treated my mother for not being a combat–trained Beta. We’ll be here all day, and I have class in twenty minutes.”
“They’re not showing up now, are they?” he pushes.
“Neither is she. She sent you as a punishment for disobeying orders. Remember that the next time you want to defend her,” I snatch my bag off the counter. “Maybe send someone else to watch me today.”
He didn’t send anyone else, and the drive to school was awkward as hell. I get out of the car before he can turn it off and rush to my class as if I were going to be late. I find a seat in the center and try to push everything out of my head so that I can focus on my lessons.
Everything for the next two weeks will be on my finals. This is keeping me alive at the moment. I can’t believe how much of this program I have completed these past two years. My training is paying off, but if I’m being honest, I miss the combat training.
Waking up early in the morning had become a routine. One that I ended up looking forward to every day. It’s why I still do it now. Now that I’ve had time to think and clear my head with my morning classes, I feel like maybe I was a little harsh on my grandmother.
But we’ve been here before. Someone tells her something that makes her come here, only for her to remind me that I wasn’t the grandchild that she probably had wanted to survive. I’d seen her multiple times in Oliver’s room. I heard her mourn him when she thought I was sleeping.
Gavin would often tell me that she was like that because she always believed Oliver would end up wanting to go to school in Blackstone so that he could get training alongside Ivar. And he had wanted that. His acceptance letter came in the mail the week before I moved into the dorms.
My relationship with her has never been easy. I tried my best to make her as proud as I could, being what I am, but eventually, I had to give up trying to please someone who didn’t care. Someone who corrected me as a person whenever she was around. Nothing I ever did was right for her.
Ivar’s words sting because I didn’t do it on purpose. Her rejection of me was a lesson I had to learn the hard way. Maybe the Romanos didn’t turn out to be the people I thought they were, but the reason why they have so much control over me and my life is that I had no one else to turn to. They know that, and that is the reason for their brazen attacks. Especially Santiago.
“Well, well, well,” a sharp chill goes down my spine at the sound of her voice. My ears ring as I turn around to come face to face with the girl who stole my life. “If it isn’t pathetic, little Sophia Helvig. What are you still doing here? Didn’t you take the hint when my mate had his hands around your throat with the intention to kill? Or do you need me to do it for him?”
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
