Page 18 of Brambles and Bellflowers
“What?” I looked at Declan. “How can you not be upset that you weren’t told? Jonathon is in your quintet!”
I turned my attention back to Bryce. “You were there. You saw that they forced her to be relocated. She was hurt and terrified. You saw that she didn’t want to go.”
“There is no excuse for what happened,” Declan said, his voice low. “The Griers made a catastrophic mistake in thinking they were preventing a crisis. Their regret doesn’t undo the damage, but they’re committed to making amends if Bianca allows it. So I take that, along with the knowledge that they raised her in a much safer environment than she was in, into account. At least for now.”
“And they are not incorrect that she requires extensive treatment,” Gregory responded evenly. “I reviewed her records. She has not had a physical exam in a decade, and she still has not spoken to a therapist. It is neglectful to allow this to continue. You must do something.”
“I will not force her into treatment,” I told him.
“I respect your insistence on helping her maintain her autonomy, especially after she’s had it stripped from her for so many years.” Gregory watched me. “However, she is hurting herself.”
“She knows what she’s doing,” I said, pulse roaring in my ears. “I trust her to make her own decisions.”
“Just…” Gregory sighed. He removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “It would be best if you remembered that while she is Mu, she suffers from complex trauma that, right now, we do not fully grasp. You cannot assume she understands the social context you and I take for granted. It isyourresponsibility to consider this throughoutallyour interactions. The consequences will be severe if you fail.”
“What?” I stepped back. Why did it seem like he was threatening me? “Everything will be fine.”
First Finn, and now him. Why did everyone think so little of me?
I would only have to prove them wrong.
Bianca POV
I stepped out of the coffeeshop with a large pumpkin spice latte in one hand and a medium decaf coffee in the other. The crisp afternoon air carried the scent of roasted beans and cinnamon, but my thoughts were still tangled with Seigneur.
Even after leaving the library, his piercing gaze lingered in my mind, impossible to shake. I’d tried—first by wandering longer than necessary, then with a stop at the coffeeshop—but something about our conversation lingered. Men like Seigneur didn’t just ask questions. They already knew the answers.
I had a feeling that I’d be seeing him again.
Still, why wouldn’t he want anyone to know we’d met?
On the way out of the library, I returned all the books I’d borrowed since I was no longer a student, but it didn’t matter: I had better reading material now. I was nearly done with the first book of Miles’s collection. They were terribly written, with absurdly dramatic love scenes, but somehow, I couldn’t stop reading them.
Still, before returning to the ridiculous world ofSinful Response, I had a more pressing matter to attend to. Damen had been pouty and weird since Julian and I had bonded, probably feeling neglected. That was most likely why he’d asked me to accompany him today.
It would be remiss to forget my duty to him and his delicate emotions.
“Hello, Mistress,” Xavier said as he stepped in front of me, cutting off my beeline to the Psychology building.
I stopped, surprised, as my heart pounded. Where had he come from?
“H-hello…” I responded.
What was it about him that unsettled me? Was it the questionable reading material he’d procured for Jiayi, or maybe the cryptic warnings I had been given to avoid him?
“Sorry,” he said. He stepped beside me and swung his bag over his left shoulder. “Didn’t mean to scare you, but I didn’t expect to see you so soon. Bryce has been determined to keep me away. Where are you going? I’ll walk with you.”
Wouldn’t the others get upset? But Xavier was supposed to be mine, so should I care what they thought?
I shook my head. No, I couldn’t let them tell me what to do. I had to learn to handle my responsibilities at some point.
“Oh,” Xavier said, stepping back. “Okay, I’ll leave you alone—”
“No!” I protested. I couldn’t be afraid. It would be horrible to reject someone who just wanted to impress me.
Besides, he wasn’t allowed to hurt me anyway. I was his mistress.
“Yes, p-please walk with me,” I said.
