Chapter 311: What Are You Going To Do?

Lilith shook her head. "You don’t understand. She’s trying to save me...."

"Is she?" Sera challenged. "Or is she trying to save herself from losing the last piece of family she has left? Because those are two very different things, Lilith."

The words hit harder than Lilith expected and she felt something crack inside her chest. "I don’t know who to trust. Everyone keeps lying to me. The Alphas lied about my father. My aunt is telling me I have to die. You’re telling me my aunt might be wrong. And I’m just....I’m so tired of not knowing what’s true."

Her voice broke on the last word and then the tears came....hot and overwhelming and absolutely unstoppable. She doubled over with the force of her sobs, her whole body shaking, and Agnes immediately pulled her into her arms.

"I’ve got you," Agnes murmured, rocking her gently. "I’ve got you, sweetheart. Let it out."

Lilith cried into Agnes’s shoulder like a child, all the fear and anger and betrayal and overwhelming terror pouring out of her in great gasping sobs. She cried for her father who died trying to help people. She cried for her mother who would never wake up. She cried for the life she thought she would have before everything fell apart.

And she cried for herself, for the girl who had walked into the Blackwood brother’s trap looking for ways to clear her father’s name and ended up with three bond marks and a death curse instead.

Sera sat down on her other side and rested a hand on her back, not saying anything, just being present. And somehow that made it worse and better at the same time.

When the sobs finally subsided into hiccuping gasps, Agnes pulled back just enough to look at Lilith’s face. "Better?"

"No," Lilith said honestly. "But I can breathe again."

"That’s a start." Agnes reached for the tray and picked up a strawberry, holding it out. "Eat. Even if you don’t feel like it. You need your strength."

Lilith took the strawberry automatically and bit into it. The sweetness burst across her tongue and for just a moment she felt almost normal. Almost like herself.

"What are you going to do?" Sera asked quietly.

Lilith looked at her. "About what?"

"About everything. About the curse. About Victoria. About the Alphas." Sera’s gaze was steady and unwavering. "You have choices here, Lilith. Maybe not easy ones. Maybe not good ones. But you have them."

"Do I?" Lilith asked. "Because it feels like every choice has already been made for me. The bonds are complete. The curse is inside me. Aunt Victoria wants to take me away and the Alphas want to keep me here. Where’s my choice in any of that?"

"Your choice is in what you do next," Agnes said. "Do you trust Victoria? Do you trust the Alphas? Do you trust yourself? Those are the questions you need to answer."

Lilith was quiet for a long moment, turning the half-eaten strawberry over in her fingers. "I don’t trust any of them. Not completely."

"Then who do you trust?" Sera asked.

Lilith looked between the two women who had shown her nothing but kindness since she arrived at this estate. Who had defended her to the pack. Who had sat with her while she broke apart and did not judge her for falling to pieces.

"You," she said finally. "I trust you. Both of you."

Agnes smiled, soft and sad. "Then let me tell you what I think. And you can decide if I’m right or wrong."

"Okay."

"I think Victoria loves you," Agnes said. "I think she genuinely believes she’s saving you by trying to take you away from here. But I also think she’s terrified of losing you the way she lost your mother. And fear makes people do things that aren’t always in the best interest of the people they’re trying to protect."

Lilith absorbed that. "And the Alphas?"

"I think they’re idiots," Sera said bluntly, and it startled a laugh out of Lilith despite everything. "I think they handled this entire situation terribly. They should have told you about your father from the beginning. They should have made sure you understood what the bonds meant before completing them. They should have done a hundred things differently."

"But?" Lilith prompted, because she could hear the but coming.

"But I also think they love you," Sera continued. "I think the bonds are real and their feelings are real and they would rather die themselves than let you sacrifice yourself for them. And that counts for something."

"Does it?" Lilith whispered. "Does it count for enough to forgive the lies?"

"That’s not for us to decide," Agnes said gently. "That’s for you to figure out. But I will say this.....love doesn’t erase the harm that’s been done. But it does make it possible to heal from it. If you want to."

"And if I don’t want to?" Lilith asked. "If I want to leave? If I want to go with my aunt and never look back?"

"Then we’ll support you," Sera said immediately. "We’ll help you pack. We’ll make sure you have everything you need. And we’ll miss you like hell, but we’ll understand."

The unconditional support made Lilith’s throat tighten again. "You would do that? Even though you’re part of this pack? Even though the Alphas are your leaders?"

"You’re our friend," Agnes said simply. "And friendship means supporting the people we care about even when we don’t agree with their choices."

Lilith felt fresh tears prick her eyes but she blinked them back. She had cried enough for one day. "I don’t know what I want. I don’t know what the right choice is. I just know I can’t stay in this room anymore. I can’t sit here staring at these walls thinking about the curse growing inside me."

"Then don’t," Sera said. "Get dressed. Go for a walk. Clear your head. The Alphas won’t stop you."

"Won’t they?" Lilith asked bitterly. "They seem pretty invested in keeping me here."