Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose novel Chapter 18

**Healing Slowly But Surely**
By R. Joseph

From the periphery of my vision, I caught sight of Gavin re-entering the room, his gaze fixed on me as though I had just sprouted a second head, a bizarre sight indeed. Meanwhile, Chalice wore a smug smile, a mask of triumph that began to fade gradually with each passing second as the triplets hesitated, caught in a moment of indecision about rejecting me.

“Kael…?” Her voice, soft and deceptively sweet, cut through the tension like a knife as she gazed up at them with those big, pleading eyes that had always served her well. “Zevran, Caelum… she’s asking you to reject her. Will you do it? Won’t it hurt her?”

Oh, I recognized her game.

She was stoking the flames.

This was her usual tactic, her go-to move in situations like this. She always feigned concern for me, donning a mask of sweetness that somehow convinced everyone around her to believe her, to feel pity for her.

She wanted them to see her as the superior twin.

A wave of nausea washed over me as Caelum turned to her, his expression a tumultuous mix of guilt and compassion. “If she wants it, we cannot stop her.” His words hung in the air, but despite the weight of his statement, he made no move to initiate the rejection process.

Neither did his brothers.

And neither did I.

I stood there, my heart pounding in my chest, breaths coming in short, heavy gasps as I glared at them, frustration bubbling just beneath the surface.

Time was slipping away. My patience was wearing thin.

Chalice, sensing the shift, grasped Caelum’s hands in a desperate bid for influence. To anyone else, her blue eyes might have seemed innocent, but I could see the underlying desperation. She murmured, “But she’s weak. She’s wolfless. She hasn’t even recovered from her injuries yet… this would shatter her. Please don’t.”

Her charade grated on my nerves, an uncomfortable itch that I couldn’t ignore any longer. I turned to her, my gaze icy and unyielding.

“Do you realize that they’ll never be fully yours if they do not reject me?” I asked her, my voice laced with bitterness as I observed, with a mix of irritation and disbelief, the tears streaming down her cheeks uncontrollably.

It was as if a dam had broken within her, releasing a flood of emotion.

“…so let them do this… for you. For me. So that we can all finally have some semblance of peace. Okay?” I continued, my focus shifting away from the statuesque triplets, ignoring the sharp glint in Chalice’s eyes despite her tears.

“Leilani, you don’t have a wolf!” she shrieked, her feigned concern ringing hollow. “It could kill you!”

“Then let it kill me.”

“Now, you’re just being bitter!” Gavin interjected from behind Zevran, his voice cutting through the air like a whip. “You’re so despicable you’d rather put yourself in danger just to prove some stupid point. Or is this your way of diverting attention from the fact that you tried to kill your sister only moments ago?!” His words struck like a thunderclap, and I could feel the tension in the room shift.

The servants, unable to voice their opinions, exchanged glances; some nodded in agreement while others wore grim expressions. Those were the ones who truly understood me.

I shrugged, a weary gesture. “I know I would be punished for hurting Chalice,” I said slowly, my voice faltering at the absurdity of it all. “…but I want to be rejected by the Alphas first. I want to end this charade once and for all.”

“LEILANI!” Zevran’s growl reverberated through the air, and I flinched in surprise, my eyes widening as I turned to face him.

Among the triplets, while Kael and Caelum often wore their tempers like a badge of honor, Zevran was the calm in the storm, the one who rarely lost his cool. Yet now, the intensity of his glare revealed just how deeply I had managed to strike a nerve.

Not that it bothered me.

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