When Olivia had come out of the house, Finn wasn't sure how to react to her. She looked shaky, her eyes were watery and she had wiped the tears from her cheeks. Her face was etched with worries and her shoulders were strained. The urgency with which she said, 'take me back' meant that something happened inside which she didn't like or was it that she was being forced to do something against her will.
Finn was one of the most loyal soldiers with Kaizan and that's where his loyalty ended. After that he looked at everyone with suspicion even if that was his wife. The fact that Olivia was from the Whiteclaw pack and got married to Kaizan just a few days back, went against Olivia's current state. Finn didn't want her to meet Murtagh, but because of Kaizan's insistence he got here. When he asked her if something happened in the house, she chose to ignore his question and instead pressed on leaving immediately.
All the way back to Silver Vales, Finn heard soft sobs of the woman in the carriage. When she was coming to visit Murtagh, she was very cheerful and gazed at the splendor of Draoidh with wide eyes, but now while going back she was only crying inside with the window of her carriage closed. There was something very wrong about the meeting and he wanted to discuss it with Kaizan. However, he wasn't sure how the General would take it because the man was very protective about her. He thought that he was going to observe Olivia for a few days and then face her in front of Kaizan if he found discerning evidence.
Inside the carriage, Olivia was still crying. She sobbed softly, hoping that no one heard her. Her thoughts went back to Murtagh again and again. How could he say that her father was a traitor when all her father ever thought was how to end a bloody war that had claimed many lives, that had put people of her pack in terrible condition, that had strained the economy of her pack to the extent that women were forced into prostitution, men were mostly rogues and those who weren't into these two, were fighting and getting killed? It was a talk between the king and her father that made her marry Kaizan against her will. Did Murtagh not see all that? All he saw was his agenda of freedom?
The way he said that she should have plunged to her death rather than marrying the General of the enemy pack, made her feel very guilty. And when he gave her the knife tipped with poison, she shuddered. Was she now collaborating with the enemy? Her father was the Beta of the pack, but Murtagh was the Alpha. It was his words that weighed more than the words of her father. He was the leader and not her father.
Conflicted with her emotions, Olivia only felt all the more guilty for betraying her Alpha and marrying the enemy he hated. But at the same time, the thought of killing Kaizan was so repulsive that she thought she could vomit. Her fingers went to her neck where he had just marked her the previous night. They had only just consummated their marriage, she had only just discovered that she had a mate, that the moon goddess blessed her with a mate and this is what the fate planned for her? To kill her mate with her hands? Did Kaizan not suspect even once what Murtagh will do when he sent her to him? A thousand questions pounded in her head and by the time she reached the mansion, her head was aching badly.
The coachman opened the door for her after they stopped in the carriageway. She stepped out and rushed to her bedchamber, when in the main hall she stopped abruptly. Her eyes flew wide open with yet another shock. Bernice was standing over there with a big smile on her lips. Wearing a pale pink gown that had a sweeping neckline with laces, she looked stunning. She had half pinned her hair up and the rest were falling over her shoulder. Her lips were painted with deepest red and eyes were heavily lined with kohl.
"B—Bernice?" she said, staring at her incredulously. How was it possible that Bernice came here so soon?
Bernice grinned. She exclaimed, "Olivia!" and threw herself on her to hug her tightly. "We missed you so much that we had to come and see how you were doing," she said after removing herself from the embrace.
"We?" Olivia asked as more disbelief surged through her. Did her mother also come here to judge how she was doing or was it her father?
"Don't look so worried, Olivia," said Bernice, happy to see her discomfort. She was sure that something was going very wrong. She turned her head over her shoulder and looked at the dining hall. "Mother!" she called. The next second the doors opened and Fuchsia, Bernice's mother, walked in. A plump woman who Bernice resembled and would look exactly like her if she added weight, walked to them with a charming smile.
"Oliviaaa!" Fuchsia said in a long honey voice and came rushing to the two girls. She embraced Olivia tightly and then held her hand to pull her to the sofa. "How are you doing?" she asked. "I just had to come and see you, niece. Both Bernice and I were very worried about you." Fuchsia sat on the sofa and tugged a stunned Olivia to sit beside her. "I had asked Kaia whether I should come to visit you or not, and Kaia was of the opinion that I should give you some time, but—" she placed a hand on her heart. "We all were so worried about you." She lowered her voice and said, "After all, you have come to the enemy pack all alone. We thought that we would make a visit after a month, but Bernice was very worried. She wanted to see you as soon as possible. So, after two days of you leaving the pack, we followed you here." Fuchsia was breathless and stopped talking to catch her breath. Her skin was flushed. Her eyes kept wandering to Olivia's neck which was half hidden with the high frilly collar of her gown.
Olivia blinked her eyes in surprise as she looked at her aunt and then at Bernice and back to her aunt. When she was there, not even once the two women showed any affection to her. She remembered Bernice's words to her before leaving. Bernice had said that if she wasn't going to like to stay in the marriage, do not bed Kaizan. She had said that she would be the sacrificial lamb in case Olivia decided to annul the marriage. From the corner of her eye, she saw Bernice sitting on the next sofa. She had leaned forward as if too concerned about Olivia. Her eyes darted from her face to her neck and her belly.
"Are you doing fine here, Olivia?" asked Bernice. Her eyes were swollen and she had obviously cried.. And this made Bernice too happy but she suppressed the happiness beneath perturbed expression.
