"I was wrong before. I actually thought that even if no one else loved you, at least Alaric did."
She waved the letter again, her smile deepening.
"Then I happened to find a love letter he wrote to me. Turns out the one he's been secretly in love with all along was me."
Her voice grew softer, yet each syllable cut sharper than the last.
"The one who brought me breakfast when we were young? That was him. Every time I was hurt or upset, he always appeared first. That wasn't coincidence either. Even mating you was just to keep you from blocking the path between me and Caelan."
She laughed out loud, the sound shrill and piercing.
"Sister, your entire existence is a joke."
I listened to every word. Slowly, I closed my eyes.
There was no breakdown. No anguish of the kind she had been expecting.
The smugness on her face stiffened, inch by inch, as though the game had lost its thrill. Irritation replaced triumph. She started to raise her hand, but her gaze caught movement in the distance: Alaric, walking toward us. Something calculated flickered behind her eyes.
Her hand stopped mid-air.
The next second, she threw herself backward.