At first, Inez didn’t stop because she didn’t register that someone was calling her. It was only when Jules reached out and caught her by her elbow that she realised that the woman was calling her.
"Are you angry at me?" Jules asked nervously. She had been calling Inez for a while now, and with the woman ignoring her, she just couldn’t help but wonder if the woman was angry at her. Jules had to admit that her sister was truly rude to Inez, and if she were in her shoes, then she too would have been furious with her.
Inez pursed her lips. She shook her head and said to her, "I am not angry, but I think it will be better if we discuss what happened earlier."
When Jules noticed her serious expression, she became even more worried. She asked, "Is everything alright?"
"I appreciate that you are trying to befriend me, but" Inez sucked in a breath and continued speaking, "You should be well aware that your cousin doesn’t seem to like the company that you are keeping. The pure-blooded shifters have always looked down on latents; I think you should look for someone whose company would be appreciated by your family. For your own benefit and peace." And hers as well.
Inez didn’t want to be pulled into the murky waters. If Jules were one of the last dragons, then getting close to her was nothing less than walking down a rickety bridge.
"But I like you," said Jules as if she couldn’t understand what Inez was trying to tell her. "Since the day I came to this city, no one has been nice to me; you are the only one who truly cared for me. Usually, people only care about me because they want something from me, but you are the only person who took care of me without anything in exchange."
Inez simply stared at the woman because this was the first time someone had told her that they would want to become friends with her after Dominic ruined her life.
When Inez didn’t say anything in response, Jules was slightly hurt by her lack of reaction. She thought that Inez would agree with her almost at once, but when she didn’t, her heart couldn’t help but feel a bit twinged with pain.
Was it that hard to become friends with her?
She then said to Inez, "It is okay, if you don’t want to." After she finished speaking, she lowered her head.
Inez looked at the woman whose hands were tightly clenched at her sides. She said, "I have nothing against becoming your friend." Apart from Selene, no one had truly tried to become her friend, and Inez had no idea what to make of the current situation. "However, I don’t think your family will be happy if you become friends with me. And not only them, but even the people whom you know will talk behind your back. Do you think you can withstand all of that?"
Jules pursed her lips as she tried to digest Inez’s words.
"You don’t have to think about them," she huffed. "And my cousin is not that bad – it’s not that she looks down at you; she just likes to mollycoddle me in her own patronising, condescending way." And of course, the fact that she was trying to befriend her was going to make her ten times worse, but Jules really didn’t want to miss out on someone like Inez.
Inez simply smiled. She didn’t take Jules’ lie to heart because she knew that the woman was only saying it because she wanted to become her friend.
"I see..." she nodded and turned to look behind her; at some point, Serafina had come to stand behind them and was now glaring at Inez as if she were a witch who had hoodwinked her sister. Seeing that the latter was not happy with her, Inez turned to look at Jules and said to her, "I think your sister is waiting for you."
Jules raised her head and glanced at Serafina, who stood behind Inez. One look at her sister, and she flinched slightly, but soon she recovered and smiled at Inez before saying to her, "I will see you soon, Lyla."
As Jules walked past her, Inez heaved a sigh of relief and went down the path that headed to the lodge where she lived. However, just as she arrived at her lodge, she found that the peace that she was looking for was still far from her fingertips.
"You are finally here," said Ajax. The enforcer was standing outside on the porch of her lodge, holding something in his hands as he looked at her.
"What are you doing here?" Inez asked as she made her way towards the lodge at a slow and careful pace.
Ajax raised the box in his hands and replied, "Got some crabs. I thought you would like some."
Inez stared at the box in his hands and then raised her head to look at the man in front of her. She didn’t understand what Ajax was trying to do. Why would he come to see her and even wait for her when he could have simply dropped the box and left?
"What’s with that questioning note?" Ajax asked with a hint of amusement in his voice. "Are you not happy to see me?"
"I never said that," remarked Inez. She walked over and added, "However, I would have liked it if you had left the box and left."
In response to her barbed words, the man only chuckled.
"Well, I also wanted to talk to you, beautiful," Ajax remarked with a wink.
This time around, Inez halted. Her fingers, which were turning the knob of the door, stiffened and she turned to look at the man. Her eyes moved up and down as she questioned, "Who are you and what have you done to the real Ajax?"