Chapter 166- Victor Toussaint (I)

Arabella:

"I’m innocent," Victor whispered.

We were sitting across from each other at a small table in the garden. Lucien had offered us one of the royal drawing rooms so we could talk comfortably, but I had refused. After everything that had happened lately, sitting behind a closed door while discussing the Queen didn’t sound like a smart idea.

Someone could stand outside and listen without us knowing. Out here, I could see anyone coming toward us. At least, that was what I told myself.

I leaned forward and rested my arms on the table. "Then tell me what happened, Victor. All of it."

He looked down at his hands.

"Victor. After our last meeting, I kept thinking about the way you behaved whenever I asked about Anika." I lowered my voice even though there was no one close enough to hear us. "You looked like you wanted to tell me something, but you couldn’t. And then it crossed my mind that maybe the Queen had bound you with a royal command. Am I right?"

Victor slowly lifted his head. "Yes." He said without hesitation.

So, I hadn’t imagined it.

I studied him carefully. He looked much better today. The last time I had seen him, his face had been pale and sweaty, and he had looked ready to fall apart right in front of me. Today, I could see some color in his cheeks. He looked well-slept... well-rested.

Victor rubbed his palms over his pants before speaking. "I don’t know how that command was removed. The Queen had been coming into my dreams for years. Sometimes she threatened me or poked me with a knife. Sometimes she just stood there and reminded me what would happen if I ever tried to tell anyone the truth."

All of it bothered me more than I wanted to admit.

"But then one night, something happened." He paused, his forehead creasing as he tried to remember. "She was in my room again... and suddenly, she was pulled away from me..." My fingers went still on the table, and my heartbeat seemed to stop.

Victor didn’t seem to notice it.

"... right through the window. I couldn’t see who was doing it. I just saw her being dragged away, and then I heard her scream." He shook his head. "It sounds crazy when I say it out loud, but it felt like something was protecting me from her."

I swallowed hard and sat back in my chair, trying my best to keep my face normal. "And the next morning?" I asked.

"That was when I knew something had changed." His hand moved over his stomach. "That knot was gone. The fear was gone too. I kept waiting for it to come back, but it didn’t."

He looked almost confused by his own freedom.

"I even tried talking to Anna, my mate, about the Queen. Usually, the moment I tried to say anything, something stopped me. My body would freeze up. Sometimes I couldn’t even get the words out." His voice dropped. "But that morning, nothing happened."

So, pushing Theodora out of Victor’s dream hadn’t only hurt her. I had broken whatever hold or spell she had over him.

I looked at Victor again. "Okay." I pulled my chair a little closer to the table. "Then start from the beginning." I placed my hand over his before he could retreat into himself again. "Tell me what really happened to Anika."

***

Victor Toussaint:

"I could never kill her." My voice broke before I could stop it. "How could I, Arabella? I was in love with her."

I looked away and rubbed my hands over my face. Damn it. I had promised myself I wouldn’t cry. But this was the first time in three years someone had actually sat in front of me and asked whether I was innocent.

Not what I had done. Not why I had done it. Whether I had done it at all.

For three years, I had been punished for a crime I never committed. Then Arabella had been handed over to the Volkovs because of that same crime.

I had tried to tell our parents... and Vanessa too. Every damn time, the words disappeared the moment I tried to speak. My throat would close up. Sometimes I couldn’t even open my mouth.

And now, of all people, Arabella was sitting across from me, waiting patiently for the truth.

Arabella... the sister all of us had discarded so easily when things went wrong. And that realization hurt.

I blinked away the tears and forced myself to continue. "Anika and I were together. We weren’t fated mates. We chose each other." A small smile came to my face before I could stop it. "She made me a better person, Ara. I wanted to spend my life with her."

Arabella didn’t interrupt. She only watched me, giving me time.

"I used to worry that her family would never accept me. She was a royal Lycan, and I was just a Beta werewolf. I told her more than once that we were being stupid."

"What did she say?"

I almost laughed remembering it. "She thought I worried too much. Her elder sister had already been mated to a Gamma, so according to Anika, I had a pretty good chance." I wiped under my eye with my thumb. "And she was very sure Lucien would take her side. She loved her brother. She always said if she really wanted something, Lucien would fight the whole family for her."

Talking about her like this felt strange. Good and painful at the same time. I reached into my pocket for my phone.

"I still have her last message." Arabella immediately leaned forward.

"I’ve changed phones since then, but I never deleted our conversations. That night, Anika messaged me and asked me to meet her at the club."

I found the old message but didn’t open it yet. I wasn’t ready to look at her name on my screen.

"When I got there, I went to the room she had told me about. It was pitch dark. I thought she was messing with me." My fingers tightened around the phone. "She liked doing stupid things like that sometimes, so I walked in and switched on the light."

Even after three years, I could still see that room... and Anika. "She was lying there. I still thought it was a prank. I went over to her, picked her up and kissed her." My throat started hurting again. "But she didn’t react. Not even a little."

That was when I started getting scared. I remembered touching her face. Calling her name. Shaking her harder.

"Anika. Wake up. I told her to wake up... but nothing... nothing was left there."