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1187 Words
Elizabeth was sat at the table with the food in front of her. She hadn't touched it. This was the one thing she had over Francesca. The only thing she could possibly do that would get her to reveal why she was keeping her like this.
The door opened again, and her heart sank as she saw it was Francesca.
But this time, she was not alone.
Jonas rested his hand on her lower back. He was trying to make it look like an affectionate gesture, but he was pressing her back because she seemed like she had changed her mind about going into the room.
They both sat down now. Neither of them asked if they were welcome or if Elizabeth wanted to talk.
She didn’t react to them.
She stared at the wall above where they were sat and hoped that if she remained silent they would leave her alone.
“Nathan isn’t dead.”
Francesca spat out the words. She could not have gone through with revealing the truth if she had to build up to it.
Elizabeth still didn’t react.
“Did you hear me? I told you he isn’t dead.”
“I heard.”
Her focus was still on the wall. She had picked up on the fact Francesca saw the lack of eye-contact as insulting, and that she was forcing herself not to get angry.
“You’re not going to tell me all about how you had already figured this out for yourself? Or that I an evil heartless monster for letting you think he had died?”
Elizabeth shrugged as she finally looked directly at Francesca.
“I don’t believe you. I have no evidence that you are being honest, but there are plenty of reasons for you to lie to me.”
Francesca’s jaw clenched, and her entire body tensed. She looked across at Jonas as if he might give her permission to lose her temper.
He shook his head, barely perceptibly, and she turned back to Elizabeth.
“I couldn’t risk you trying to go after him. It was important that everybody thought he was dead.”
“If it was so important, why are you telling me now?”
“Because…” she paused, and Jonas looked at her sternly. “It was wrong to lie to you. I didn’t take the fact you feel so strongly for each other into account.”
Elizabeth swallowed - she had a lump in her throat which was partly down to anger, and partly an overwhelming rush of emotion as she thought about Sawyer was, and whether he knew that she was safe and alive or if his sister had lied to him, too.
“He knows that you are alive. He would know if you were dead.”
“But I felt…”
“…I didn’t send him on his merry way with a hug and a smile. You felt something because he was injured, but he is not dead. If he was dead you wouldn’t be questioning whether I might be telling the truth. You would know.”
“Please let me see him. I need to know that he is OK.”
“This is exactly why I didn’t want you to know. You’re going to make it your mission to mess all of this up because you are naive, and inexperienced, and blinded by your feelings for Nathan.”
“I am not blinded by my feelings. He needs me, and separating us was a f****d up thing to do.”
Francesca stood up and rested her hands on the edge of the table.
She looked down at Elizabeth and was torn between shouting at her or deciding she was not worth her time and walking away.
She exhaled deeply, then spoke calmly despite the fact she was clearly physically tense.
“You are the last thing he needs.”
“You do not get to decide that.”
“Yes, I do. You have no idea what was going on with him. He was hiding things from you, and you should have known. It got so out of hand that killing him was probably the kindest thing for everyone, and all you can tell me is ‘he was struggling’ as if that is a revelation to absolutely anyone. He’s alive, and if he manages to sort himself out you will see him again; if you go after him now he will never do that. He won’t get over this, and you will enable him to continue acting irrationally. I didn’t kill him - I have given him a chance to build a decent life for both of you. The fact I let you think he was dead was for your own good; he needs a chance to heal, and to figure out what he really wants. This life, even before you bonded, is not the life he wanted.”
Elizabeth stood up. She mirrored Francesca, leaning her hands on the opposite side of the table and looking up at her.
“It is the life that you wanted. So you took it from us, and now you are trying to tell yourself it was for our own good.”
Francesca’s eyes flashed with anger.
“Do you want me to go and get him? To have him tell you why he attacked me, and why he agreed to leave? To hand this back to him so the pair of you can live in misery again? Everything that made him different will rot away and you will be left to live your life with a resentful washed-out version of Tobias. And while you are spending your every waking hour telling him he is perfect and convincing him that he is doing the right thing, he will be leading our kind down a path we cannot come back from.”
Elizabeth sank down into the chair again, and Francesca pushed the plate of cold food in front of her.
Her half-hearted attempt at a hunger strike was over. She had started the day furious at Francesca, and she was convinced that this had been a carefully staged coup to grab power as soon as she saw the chance.
Even when she believed that Sawyer was still alive she was angry and saw no reason that they had to be kept apart.
But one thing Francesca had said changed her mind.
'Everything that made him different will rot away and you will be left to live your life with a resentful washed-out version of Tobias.'
She thought back to the last thing he had said to her, and the way he had treated her that night.
Francesca was right, as much as she hated to admit it.
If that was the man she was going to live with for the rest of her life, she would be miserable.
- Writer
