Page 151 of A Silent Prodigy for the Lycan Princess
“I wonder more about why we are still alive,” Coralie says.
I spin around, feeling dread settling in me. “You think they would kill us?” I whisper.
Coralie looks flustered. “Fuck, it’s my stupid mouth again. Don’t worry, Léna, I’m just an asshole blabbing nonsense.”
“No.” I hurry to her. “Tell me what you think!”
“So far, we are pretty sure that these are the guys Arden is after, right?” she asks. “Seeing how it’s such a high-security mission he is working on, I’d take a wild guess that these men are very dangerous.”
“Vander didn’t know much about it,” I say quietly. “But he kept saying that his brother is working day and night to save certain victims and to stop an organization from trafficking more werewolves. But that’s all I know.”
“So, either, we are here to get sold,” Coralie says, clenching her fingers nervously. “Or they took us because they want to pressure Arden. At least in your case, that might be true.”
“Arden would never let you rot here,” I say with conviction. “But I think you might be right with the latter; we are here to put pressure on him.”
“But if they don’t want to sell us,” she says. “They would need to use us for something else.”
“Maybe money?”
“I don’t think they need money,” she says. “Look around how well equipped they are.”
“But what else would they want from us?” I ask.
She shrugs. “I don’t know.”
I gaze at her. “Are you trying to protect me from the truth?”
“We both know I’m not nice enough to do that,” she points out.
“You are surprisingly annoying, just on a different level than I thought you’d be,” I mutter.
“Yeah, I should probably improve myself,” she says.
“I don’t think you’re a bad person,” I tell her. “I think you made one grave mistake and some shitty decisions, but that doesn’t have to define you for the rest of your life.”
“You really are a goody-two-shoes,” she mutters. “No surprise Vander likes you.”
“Actually, it still surprises me that he does.”
“How come?”
“I’m so normal,” I say. “Just look how beautiful you are and how plain I am in comparison.”
“If I’ve learned one thing, it’s that not every guy cares about how stunning we are,” she says. “Arden didn’t love me, but he liked me enough to date me, and certainly not because he found me beautiful. That’s the true mystery here. You are cute, fun, and likable, so Vander fell for you. What Arden saw in me aside from a pretty face, beats me.”
“But isn’t that something to be happy about and work on?” I ask. “He saw something in you, something you couldn’t see.” I pause. “You tried to defend me,” I tell her. “When these assholes abducted me, you tried to save me, and you are still doing it now. I think that’s an admirable side about you.”
“Hm.” She tilts her head. “Maybe you are right, and I’m not all that bad.”
I’m kind of amazed by her confidence. She was down, but it took her only a moment to be up again.
“But, before we can find a way to better ourselves, we need to survive this ,” she states in a matter-of-fact tone. “Let’s look through the room again and see if we find a way to get out of here.”
We did that before, already, but neither of us comments on how we didn’t find anything on our first two searches. We just do it again. We are still roaming around the room when there are noises and voices at the door.
“Who… Who is that?” someone asks.
“That was Azurite,” Coralie whispers. “Get back here, Léna.” She grabs me and pulls me behind her.
