Seducing Mr. Jerk

Chapter 5

I froze. My heart seemed to stop as I staggered back.

I felt warm hands steadying me, the hands feeling rather warm over my skin that seemed to have turned cold.

Lavina…dead…

I feel like I've been punched in the gut. My lungs are collapsing, my heart is racing, and my mind is reeling. The words keep echoing in my brain, but I can't seem to process them. 'Your sister is gone.' 'She's not coming back.' 'She's dead.'

No, no, no. This can't be true. We were just talking yesterday. Talking about her wedding. How she was going to be queen? She was excited. She was fine, happy, alive.

But the words keep haunting me, taunting me with their finality. Dead. Gone. Never coming back.

It feels like a punch to the gut, leaving me breathless and numb.

We weren't close, we didn't have a relationship, but she was still family. The thought of her being gone, of never seeing her again, it's...surreal.

I keep thinking this is some kind of mistake, that there's been a misunderstanding. But deep down, I know the truth. She's really gone.

I'm scared, I'm sad, I'm...lost. I don't know how to process this, how to deal with the emotions that are swirling inside me. I feel like I'm in a fog, like everything around me is blurry and unclear.

I need time, I need space, I need to try and make sense of this. But right now, I'm just stuck in this moment, frozen in shock and grief.

I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of shock and fear. My body is numb, my thoughts are jumbled, and my emotions are raw. I'm scared, so scared.

The room seemed to spin around me, the edges blurring into a haze of colors and shapes that no longer made sense. The voice from the television echoed in my ears, a distant and hollow sound that couldn't possibly be real. Lavina, dead? The words were a cruel joke, a mistake, anything but the truth.

I felt Dorian's hand on my shoulder, his touch was a distant sensation, barely registering as I stared at the screen, at the picture of my sister. Lavina, with her perfect smile and her perfect life, now reduced to a memory, a headline, a tragedy.

The anchor continued to speak, words like "unexpected" and "investigation" floating through the air, but they meant nothing. Nothing could explain this, nothing could justify the sudden ripping away of a life, of my sister. The sister who had been a rival, a tormentor, but also a part of my world, a part of me.

Tears welled up, unbidden and unstoppable, spilling over and tracing hot paths down my cheeks. I wanted to scream, to deny, to wake up from this nightmare that had become my reality. But the tears were the only response that came, silent sobs that racked my body and spoke of a pain too deep for words.

Dorian's voice was a soft murmur, asking if I was okay, but the question seemed absurd. Okay? How could anyone be okay at a time like this? I shook my head, unable to form words, unable to do anything but feel the loss that consumed me.

The maids hovered nearby, unsure and helpless, their presence a reminder of the role I had to play, the mask I had to wear. But in that moment, I couldn't be the queen, the bride, the composed figure that the world expected. I was just Isadora, a girl who had lost her sister, a girl whose world had shattered with a few words spoken on the evening news.

I stepped back, feeling the room sway as if the ground beneath me had turned to water. Dorian's hands were there, steady and sure, guiding me to sit down. The maids rushed to get water, their faces blurred by my tears.

I heard the news anchor talked about Cassian. And I frowned.

"The last person she was seen with was Cassian?" I asked, my voice sounding small and far away. The words didn't make sense. They couldn't be true.

Dorian nodded, his face serious. "Yes, but we don't know the full story yet. They're looking into it."

I tried to understand, to make sense of the news that felt like a bad dream. "But how? Why?" The questions spilled out, each one echoing in the silence that followed.

"We'll find out," Dorian said, his hand squeezing my shoulder. "I promise."

I took a shaky breath, trying to calm the storm inside me. Fear, sadness, and confusion mixed together until I couldn't tell them apart. "I need to know if Cassian... if he did something to her..." I couldn't finish the sentence.

"We will," Dorian repeated. "But right now, you need to rest. You've been through a lot. You got married today. Your feet, they seem to have blisters forming on them.”

Rest seemed impossible. How could I rest when my sister was gone, and so many questions hung in the air? But the exhaustion was real, pulling at my limbs, begging me to close my eyes, just for a moment.

The maids returned with water, and I took a sip, the cool liquid doing little to quench the thirst in my throat. I knew I should rest, but my mind was already racing, thinking of what to do next.

Dorian noticed my discomfort and glanced down at my feet, his brow furrowing. "Your shoes have been torturing you all day, haven't they?" he asked, his tone laced with concern.

I nodded, too exhausted to speak. The heels had been a necessary evil, part of the image I had to maintain, but now they had left their mark in the form of painful blisters.

Without a word, Dorian left the room and returned shortly with a small jar of cream. He knelt before me, gently taking my feet into his hands. "This should help," he said softly as he began to massage the cream into the tender skin.

I winced at the initial touch but soon relaxed under the careful ministrations of his hands. "I thought you would be happy, you know... since you never liked her anyway," Dorian said, looking up at me with a hint of accusation in his eyes.

I met his gaze, the pain in my heart reflecting in my eyes. "You think I could be happy about this?" I whispered, the hurt evident in my voice. "She was still my sister, Dorian. No matter what passed between us."

The maids, who had lingered in the background, suddenly stepped forward. "We are to escort you to the king's chambers," one of them announced, her voice devoid of the sympathy the moment required.

Dorian's head snapped up, his expression turning to one of disbelief. "What?" he exclaimed, his voice rising. "Her sister just died. Is his majesty that uncaring?"

The maids didn't repeat themselves, their orders clear. Dorian stood, placing himself between me and them, his protective stance unwavering. "She will not go anywhere tonight," he declared firmly. "She needs rest, and she will have it."