To His Hell and Back-Chapter 123: Awaited Meeting-II

Arabella noticed the shift. She couldn’t feel it from Ariel but she could feel it straight from Cassius. The way he had spoke had reverted to his usual crafty self, the skill he always used whenever facing a great enemy. But Ariel wasn’t dangerous and she frowned while looking at him, wondering what was wrong with him and the use of his tone which could come off as accusing.

But knowing how many times he had helped her, she thought about giving him a chance though her eyes still lingered at him before going back to Ariel.

Her older sister seemed to look troubled, hesitant even, she had sighed softly and placed one hand over her cheek, "Madam Ursula had struck her."

Arabella’s eyes widened, "Struck?"

"Starved and struck her," answered Ariel with her lips pursed, "I had planned to go down the room underneath the building to look for her but when I visited down the basement, I found it empty and then Madam Ursula told me that Courtez had ran away."

Arabella furrowed her eyebrows, "That’s odd. Do you think that Courtez and Madam Ursula had a fight beforehand?" She hummed with her hands drawn under her chin, "She does feel odd... the way she was looking at us earlier, feels as if she was... gouging something."

Cassius crossed his arms, "So where were you when your friend was struck by Madam Ursula? You watched and stood behind?"

Ariel looked at him and a slight hurt crossed her face. She looked toward Bella, her eyes pleading for help which stung Bella, who instinctively turned to Cassius with a quiet sigh. She turned to Cassius, "It must have been difficult for her to stand up against Madam Ursula. It’s not that simple. You said yourself how they keep a room here for the sick and the discarded. Maybe Ariel wanted to intervene but couldn’t. She was trying to find the right timing."

"Oh my dear sweetie, gentle, and naive birdie," sang Cassius as he leaned forward, smiling to her eyes. "Do you know how sweet you are being right now? So sweet that my teeth could go rotten and yet so very unfair to me. You judge me so harshly, but your sister gets a pass. You even offer her a reason and an excuse. Why? Because she’s family? Or are you simply looking away from the obvious?"

Bella saw his face that came closer to her and stared at his crimson eyes that seem to be insinuating something which made her lips to purse, "I don’t understand what you mean."

"You’re a very fair person aren’t you?" Cassius pointed in a whisper, his voice close to her ears but was like a wind to Ariel who could only stare at them in a curious look. He saw Ariel’s green eyes staring at his hands that had playfully placed itself to curl around Arabella’s little finger, something that even his birdie doesn’t notice yet Ariel had been staring at it.

It wasn’t the stare of someone worried that a dangerous man had touched her sister.

It was the stare of someone jealous. So jealous that Ariel had always stared at him with a masked smile to hide that seething anger under her jealous green eyes, as if envious that he could touch Bella so easily which felt unbearably odd.

Cassius knowing this, continued to play with Arabella’s hands. As if that wasn’t enough, he then dropped his hands and placed to Bella’s legs which she doesn’t seem to notice but this quickly caused a sudden shift in Ariel’s face that had turned into a horrible dark frown.

Cassius grinned but he continued to speak to his birdie, dropping crumbs so she could pick it herself. He reasoned with her, "You don’t like violence, you don’t like bullying the weak, and you do things the opposite from how I would have done it."

"And?" She whispered back and turned to Ariel who seemed worried as the two had lowered their voice into a whisper instead.

"Come on," sighed Cassius, "You stood up for people who clearly have mocked you back in the castle and you are telling me your sister wouldn’t have stood up for her friend who you have considered to be your savior? Even worse darling," he sweetly tapped his finger on her knees, sending shiver down her spine, "She saw your little friend being abused and poof! Disappear the next second- think for yourself is this really what your sister would do?"

Ariel... though she was always meek, she wasn’t someone who would stood still while the person she cares for was in danger. Upon seeing Courtez who had been hit and suddenly disappeared, Ariel would have gone into a hunger strike or even demand answers from Madam Ursula. She was meek but she shared her sense of justice that was sometimes a little too dangerous.

So that was why this lack of concern was bothering Bella more than she could ever deny.

Cassius wasn’t wrong. She also felt this dissonance but she didn’t want to point it out. She didn’t want to because this is their first meeting after such a long time.

But her eyes moved to Ariel’s face that was so pristine. There was no wrinkles that could show her this was someone else pretending to be her beloved older sister. There was no gap, there was no flaw. Instead, this felt like the sister she had always known though something a little different. She had ignored it because she thought that she had gotten too sensitive inside the castle but now...

Skin walkers... skin walkers.

The keyword rings in her head.

She turned toward the broken mirror, still covered by the cloth. Upon laying eyes at it, her green gaze was momentarily stunned as she recalled what Cassius had told her, told her that skin walkers could change their appearance and only reflection could show their truest self.

Arabella gulped as she looked at the teacup from her hands. She slowly then picked the plate underneath it, shifting her seat to sit more forward and stared at the reflection that the tea had mirrored from Ariel.

She could see Ariel’s green eyes and for a moment she closed her eyes, fearing what she would see next.

Only after gathering her courage did she open her eyes again, looking at Ariel’s entire reflection...