"Here." Orson handed his sister a glass of water after she joined them in the living room. With a faint smile of gratitude, Catherine received the glass cup from Orson who took his seat beside her, but was hesitant to drink the content when all eyes were currently fixed on her, as though they were seeing a stranger in their home.
Her nervousness increased as she placed the tip of the cup to her lips, and she quickly drank the water to the last drop, attempting to buy herself some time to get rid of the shock that still lingered inside of her. Lowering her cup, she locked gazes with Inna whose glaring eyes were making her uncomfortable.
Dropping her gaze at the glass cup in her hand, Catherine took a deep breath and looked at Madeline whose eyes were equally fixated on her, the only difference was how skeptical it looked compared to everyone else.
"Thank you." Catherine uttered in a hoarse tone, gathering enough courage to look Madeline in the eyes, "you must have..."
"We all have." Inna cut in, her tone making it obvious that everyone here was aware of the despicable things she had done.
A sudden quietness enveloped the living room, and Catherine knew there was no excuse she could come up with that would justify her actions regarding what she had done.
"I’m.... I’m sorry." She quickly apologized, "I don’t know what came over me, I just..." she sighed guiltily, "I was jealous and hurt, okay? Cas was everything I could possibly want, I did my best to control it but..... I’m really sorry for everything I did to you....is there a chance that you can forgive me?"
She looked at Madeline, her glistening eyes portraying how sincere and honest her words were, but Madeline averted her gaze elsewhere. From her expression, one could tell she hasn’t forgotten the experience Catherine’s deceitful plan made her encounter on that day.
"What if Cassian hadn’t shown up to get me out of there on time, my life would have been ruined, and I wouldn’t be here to receive your apology. If you were in my shoes, would you forgive the person who sent someone, not just anyone, but your own brother-in-law to drug you, sexually molest and go to the extreme to the point of planning your murderer? Will you forgive someone like that? I want you to be honest with me."
She looked at Catherine who lowered her head guiltily, unable to meet Madeline’s eyes as she was starting to realize the gravity of her own actions, and it took a few minutes of pondering before she shook her head.
"No." Her tone came off as a whisper, knowing she wouldn’t forgive someone who would plan something so despicable towards her. "I can’t forgive myself either."
Taking a deep breath to make the wounded area in her body calm, she continued. "I accept my crimes, but I had no intention of killing you, yes I wanted to ruin you but not kill, I would never kill someone. I can’t stand the sight of a dead body, so how can I bring myself to kill one?"
"It’s getting difficult to trust people these days." Muttered Inna who looked away with a detestable scoff, and Elian wanted to say something to her, but instantly held his tongue, advising himself that it wasn’t the right time to get into a conversation with her.
"I’m speaking the truth." Catherine looked down at the empty cup in her trembling hands, "Jeremy and I, we never intended to kill, I... I visited his cell when he got arrested, cause I didn’t want to be implicated in his attempted murder, it wasn’t part of the plan, but when I got there, I figured the content on the bottle was what almost took Maddie’s life, and it wasn’t supposed to be like that, and then, Abbot caught us having the conversation."
"Abbot?" Orson inquired as he listened attentively, and Catherine nodded. "Yes, at first he sounded like he was going to tell the officers about what we had done, but he decided to keep the secret for his brother’s sake."
"Those two are really two peas in a pod, God how much I detest them." Uttered Orson under his breath, and Catherine continued in a shaky tone, her eyes already bubbling with tears.
"He...he said he’d get Jeremy out of prison, he said he’d keep our secret safe. Ten minutes after he left, that’s when Jeremy got attacked." A lone tear dropped from her eyes, and they turned cryptic. "I have never seen that stranger before, he wore a black cloak, and he just stepped inside the confinement and killed Jeremy on the spot."
The image of Jeremy being stabbed over and over again made her wipe the memory away from her head, unable to bear recalling something so horrific, "he...he didn’t kill me but he warned me to keep my mouth shut. If I told anyone about it, he promised I’d share the same fate with Jeremy, and I got scared cause he kept tormenting me each day."
"That Bastard!" Inna cursed underneath her breath, closing her eyes briefly to keep her anger in check.
"Elijah killed Jeremy?" Madeline’s brows knitted puzzledly, "this is strange."
"You... you know him??" Catherine’s eyes widened visibly when everyone seemed to be familiar with whom she was referring to. "You’ve met him? Does he torment everyone as well? Is he some kind of grim reaper?"
"More or less." Uttered Orson, and his gaze shifted to Elian. "Hey, mind giving us an explanation about what happened there? I refuse to jump into conclusion until I understand what I saw back in the palace. If there’s anyone who can tell us more about Elijah, it’s you."
Elian’s green eyes met the steely gaze of Orson, but without uttering a word in response to Orson, he looked away, further infuriating the young man.
"Don’t ignore...."
"This is not the time to argue, both of you." Madeline finally interrupted, her head already throbbing from having to digest a lot of information today. "We don’t know what state Cas is in right now, and if his wounds are being treated, I’m worried enough as it is, please, let’s try to avoid any further arguments until we’re sure of Cassian’s safety."
"But..."
"And no further questions concerning Elian." She stated firmly, "blaming him for what happened today won’t change the course of time, and we should let him speak when he’s ready to."
"Did something happen to Cassian?" Asked Catherine, but from their demeanor and the conversation they were having before she stepped in already gave her the answer she needed.
"I’m going to my room." Inna rose from her couch where she sat and went down the hallway passage, heading to her room.
"I think everyone should go to bed, we’ll continue with the conversation tomorrow." Madeline suggested, and fortunately, everyone complied.
Orson took his sister back to the room as he led her up the stairs. Madeline and Elian exchanged gazes, and he lowered his eyes before uttering.
"Thank you."
Madeline knew the reason why he thanked her, she knew he wasn’t ready to dish out information about his past, and that was something she relatively understood.
"Come on." Tapping his shoulders lightly as a way of comforting him, they went up the stairs together.