Chapter 55-Unwanted outcast

Chapter 55: 55-Unwanted outcast

"Are you really going to sit there silently and let an outcast lecture you?"

Varitreya’s jaw tightened. Kayden’s words had touched a nerve. She didn’t answer him and still kept her calm expression.

Kayden looked at Maisa. Something dark passed through his eyes. ’It seems that outcasts are growing fake horns and wings. We’ll have to cut them before they become a nuisance.’

Addessa stared at Maisa for another long moment, and then her eyes flashed. A pressure suddenly entered Maisa’s mind.

She gasped as the bus disappeared. For a heartbeat, everything became dark, and then Addessa’s voice slipped directly into her thoughts.

"You’re just a newbie trash nobody wants, dear."

Maisa froze. She glanced at Addessa. The girl hadn’t moved her lips, but she had heard those words clearly.

"Fate tied you to us... No, forced you on us," she continue, the words were colder than anything Addessa had ever said aloud. "So do us all a favour and be invisible."

Maisa’s breathing caught.

"It’s bad enough that we feel your existence..." There was a pause. "You don’t have to bore us by announcing your presence, too."

The connection snapped, and Addesaa disappeared from her head. Maisa staggered slightly. Nobody else seemed to know what had happened or to have heard the things Addessa said to her, but Addessa’s lips curved into a tiny, satisfied smile, which proved that she wasn’t imagining it.

Maisa stared at her. Her eyes burned with tears welling up. She hated that she was close to crying. She hated that those words hurt her so deeply. Most of all, she hated that part of her believed those words to be true. At least they felt that way to her.

She had spent her entire life believing she mattered. Her family had trained her. Her father had believed she could become one of the greatest hunters of her generation, and then she’d become a vampire, and everything she’d known had disappeared.

Now she was standing among four vampires who had been chosen by fate to be hers, and one of them had just told her that she was nothing but unwanted trash.

Maisa opened her mouth. "Addessa, I..."

"Stay within your limits, redblood!" Varitreya’s voice cut through the bus. It was even colder and sharper than Addessa’s voice. It had a final tone to it.

Maisa stopped breathing. The words weren’t shouted. They didn’t need to be. Varitreya’s authority filled every corner of the bus, and Maisa could only stare at her.

The princess wasn’t looking at her like she had during the arena. There was no concern or softness in her white eyes, and no hand reached out to her.

Worse, she had called her redblood, not Maisa, or her mate, just a redblood... an outcast. Without even the shred of kindness she had once given the girl she’d once carried from an arena.

Maisa’s heart seemed to fracture, but before she could process that fully, Addessa delivered the final blow.

"An outcast lecturing us?" She gave a faint, humourless smile. "How bold!"

The words echoed across every corner of the bus. Maisa felt something inside her chest snap, literally. A sharp, sudden pain struck beneath her ribs, and her heart clenched so violently that she instinctively pressed a hand against it.

The bond, it hurt inside her. The pain was not physical like the blackblood poison. It was different, emotional, and sounded like a rejection from someone the bond had already claimed for her.

Her vision blurred. She lowered her head quickly, terrified that someone would see the tears gathering in her eyes.

Across from her, Lumi slowly closed her book. Her expression had lost all its usual softness. She has seen that response from Varitreya and Addessa coming from a mile away.

Maisa was new to them, and Zolani had joined in for a few months, but she had been around Varitreya and Addessa since kindergarten. She had grown up sode by side with and had seen how hard hatred for lesser vampires had been drilled into them.

Accepting a mixedblood among them was already good enough. Being kind to Maisa in private was already them being generous.

However, being asked to acknowledge and accept turned vampires that was pushing things too far. She felt sorry for Maisa for getting fooled by the bond to think that their world was ready to embrace her and her blood.

’Take this as a lesson, Maisa. A bond born from a forceful zing isn’t reliable. Unless you personally earn your place, don’t expect anyone, let alone the zing, magically hand one over to you,’ she thought.

Zolani looked devastated, and Sapphire looked furious, but neither of them could speak up for her. They couldn’t only sit back and watch because both vampires involved were of higher standing.

Kayden watched the scene with an unreadable expression that was a mix of amusement and relief. He was glad that a redblood wasn’t getting away with acting bold before them.

Varitreya stared straight ahead nonchalantly, but beneath her composed exterior, her fingers had curled tightly around the edge of her seat. Because she had felt it, too, the moment Maisa’s heart broke.

The bond had carried the pain straight into her. For one terrible second, Varitreya almost reached for her, but hen she remembered the crown, her mother’s decree, the bloodlines, the entire nation watching, and she remained still.

She refused to create another mess in the name of a bond she never asked for. ’So what if the bond can’t be broken. I won’t let it control me.’

Maisa slowly returned to her seat. She didn’t say another word. Once she got seated, Sapphire immediately reached for her hand and squeezed it warmly.

Zolani did the same, and neither of them spoke. They didn’t need to use words, the situation to require for it.

Maisa stared through the darkened window as the forest rushed past outside. The reflection staring back at her looked strangely unfamiliar.

A pale girl with dark red eyes, an outcast vampire. One who was an unwanted redblood. A mate was chosen by fat but rejected by her mates. A failed representative of an overlooked blood. It was a girl carrying too many identities and belonging to none of them.

And somewhere beneath all of that, buried so deeply that she barely dared acknowledge it, was the truth she had been running from since the night she was turned, Everheart.

The family that Lumi had learned to hate as it had destroyed her father’s life. The family that had already made one of her mates her enemy without either of them knowing why.

Maisa closed her eyes. A tear finally escaped from her eyes. She wiped it away before anyone could see. But Zolani and Sapphire who let go of her hands so she could wipe her face and saw it.

They saw the tears, and it left them without a way to comfort her. Zolani looked ahead at the whiteblood and blackblood, ’If only I was strong enough. I would protect you from every vampire that means to cause you harm,’ she thought, hating how powerless she was.

Varitreya, despite refusing to turn around, felt the ache of it through the bond.

The bus continued toward Old Scaris. Addessa glanced at the princess before looking out the window.

’Since I have no choice but to follow mother’s orders...’ she paused and looked up at Maisa, ’Brace yourself, Maisa. Because when I am done with you... even the zing won’t be able to keep any of us by your side!’

She was prepared and determined to go after Maisa with everything she had and leave her with absolutely nothing and no one. Alone! That’s the verdict that had been passed on Maisa and would see to it that it comes to be.