At that moment, all they could do was wait.
For Aveline to escape her constraints and find renewed love, and for Saba to attain some semblance of peace with Mak.
Chapter 22
SABA
At the Selse reception, Aveline and Saba emerged from the alcove as the night unfolded, and the celebration continued with dancing, food, and endless trays of celebratory champagne.
Hearsay swirled around about the disappearance of Shiloh.
The source and bearers of the scorching-hot rumors had to be Zsófia, Saba’s aunt and uncle, judging by their expressions of malice as they followed her trajectory through the room.
They whispered behind fans and hands, imagining them sharing vitriol about Shiloh’s absence and Saba’s part in it.
They painted her twin’s flight in shades of betrayal and defiance.
Zsófia, in particular, had a penchant for weaving tangled webs of half-truths that ignited a vortex of speculation and judgment.
Despite the accusatory glances hurled at Saba from every corner, she maintained a stoic facade, refusing to reveal the truth of Shiloh’s escape.
Her uncle’s fury, however, knew no bounds.
He hounded her, demanding to know where she’d fled to.
Saba ignored him and asked Koda to remove him from the banquet table so she would not betray her sister’s trust.
‘No amount of harassment will work, uncle,’ Saba told him as Koda marched him away.
From afar, his rage blazed like wildfire, his hot, scalding eyes and twisted lips of derision cutting deep.
Saba huffed as he made not-so-surreptitious remarks about her to his friends.
Each word was a barb aimed at piercing the armor of loyalty she had donned to shield Shiloh from the consequences of her actions.
With Aveline by her side and Mak’s strongmen at her back, she remained steadfast, her resolve unyielding in the face of his wrath.
Still, her secrets hung heavy in the air, suffocating her with the knowledge of what she had done to protect her sister.
She left the event at eleven, kissing Aveline’s cheeks before escaping into the night and her waiting flyer with Koda at the wheel.
Saba returned to the lodge, which was dark and shrouded in shadows.
Mak was nowhere to be seen, the shadowy halls devoid of his commanding presence. The mansion felt cavernous, echoing with the silence of the night that filled its opulent chambers.
She made her way through the lamp-lit corridors.
Umbras seemed to reach out to her with ghostly fingers as she ascended the grand staircase to their private chambers.
The bedroom door creaked with a mournful sigh, revealing the room bathed in darkness save for the sliver of moonlight filtering through the parted curtains.
Saba shed her gown, letting it pool at her feet in a cascade of silk. As she slipped beneath the covers, the bed’s emptinessenveloped her in a cold embrace, mirroring the hollow, aching void that now resided within her heart.
Sleep eluded her, her mind consumed by thoughts of Mak, Shiloh, and her miserable reality.
The hours passed in agonizing slowness, each minute stretching into eternity as she tossed and turned in the darkness, grappling with the guilt that gnawed at her conscience.
She was half asleep when dawn broke on the horizon.
