Chapter 35

“No!” Albert screamed. He jumped on my back and dragged me off Lattie.
“What are you doing?” He shouted at me. He looked terrified and his fear melted my anger away.
All Albert had ever done since he met me was be nice and friendly. Why was I paying back his kindness with such savage behaviour? The least I could do was control my temper and address the situation like a sane person.
“I am sorry,” I apologized to him.
“I knew bringing a stranger home was risky, but I didn’t expect this kind of extreme behaviour,” he said.
I felt as if I was been scolded by my father and I was remorseful. Seeing Lattie again and remembering how she betrayed me in the Highlands unleashed a side of me that I wasn’t proud of.
“It was not my intention to offend you,” I said to him. “I’ll leave now.”
“Where would you go?” Lattie asked as Albert helped her back on her feet.
“Don’t talk to me,” I replied to her and opened the door.
I had to get out of the cottage quickly or else I might be tempted to pounce on her again and rip her apart completely this time.
If it wasn’t for her selfishness, I wouldn’t have spent two years in prison, separated from my infant child. That horrible experience was her fault and I wasn’t sure if I could ever forgive her for that.
I shifted back to my human body and left the cottage without a backward glance. I didn’t know where to go but anywhere was better than being under the same roof with Lattie the betrayer.
“Jade! Jade, please, wait!”
I gritted my teeth and kept walking. Lattie probably had a death wish because why else was she following me after what just happened in her home? What did she want from me?
“Please, Jade,” she said, panting behind me. “Wait. Please, don’t leave.”
“What do you want from me?” I asked her without stopping or looking at her.
“Please, come back to my cottage and let us talk.”
“About what? Oh, I know. You want to talk about how you were such a cold-hearted bitch who betrayed me and had me thrown in prison for trying to run away from slavery with my baby.”
She sighed. “I am so sorry about all of that, Jade. Nothing in this world could ever justify what I did then.”
“So why did you do it?” I asked snarkily. I was doing my best to hang on to my temper. “Go back to Albert now if you want to live to see another day.”
“Maybe I don’t deserve to see another day,” she replied hopelessly.
“That means you want me to kill you so that the villagers will kick me out? Will you ever stop plotting against me?”
“I am not plotting against you. The guilt of what I did to you has stayed with me all these years and robbed me of my peace of mind. I always prayed that one day, I would see you again and beg your forgiveness.”
“You’re wasting your time. Go back home to your husband.”
She grabbed my arm, stopping me in my tracks. I turned and glared at her but she didn’t take her hand away. It seemed as if she was indeed determined to die tonight at my hands.
“Get your filthy hand off me,” I warned her.
“I will not,” she replied defiantly. “You must hear me out before you leave.”
“What is going on with you two?” Albert asked. He had followed us down the road with a lantern in his hand.
“Why don’t we go back into the cottage and sit down like civilized creatures and have a proper conversation?” He asked. “Please, Jade.”
I looked at him and noticed how tired he was. I felt sorry for him because he was too old for this kind of stress. How did he even end up with this serpent called Lattie?
“Fine,” I said reluctantly. “Now, get your hand off me.”
Lattie withdrew her hand immediately and stepped away from me. I could see that she was afraid but I felt no sympathy for her.
Albert led the way and we followed him back to the cottage. Once inside, Lattie rushed into her kitchen to grab a broom to sweep off the pieces of the broken bowl. Albert picked up the apples and took them back into the kitchen.
When the elderly couple was done cleaning up the floor, we all sat at their dining table to talk.
“Would you like some tea?” Lattie asked me politely. When she saw the deadly look in my eyes, she cleared her throat nervously and said, “Sorry.”
“So?” I asked her impatiently. “What did you want to say?”
She sighed heavily. “Let me start by saying that I did what I did out of desperation. It’s not a good excuse but that was my reason. I was working in the fields for two years in the Highlands. It was brutal work and I was almost dying under the pressure of the work.
“That day when I saw you, I truly wanted to help you but that part of me that was broken from all that hard labour saw an opportunity. I had heard of how Alpha Jaxon never failed to reward anyone who openly displays their loyalty to him and I finally saw my chance to be rewarded.”
“I see…” I said. I was still not moved by her sob story. “So, what did you get for betraying me? A medal of honour?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I was removed from working in the fields and stationed in the palace kitchen to cook. I know that may not sound like much to you but it was heaven compared to my previous position.
“I got to eat three meals a day and sleep on a proper bed under a roof. During my time in the fields, I barely got one meal to eat a day. We slept on cold hard floors in the warehouses and at times when there wasn’t enough space there, we slept outside on the dirt under the open sky.”
I shrugged. “You knew what you were getting into before you reached the Highlands. Wasn’t that what you told me on the slave boat? At least, you weren’t sent to the mines, so what are you whining about?”
“What about you?” She fired back. “Weren’t you living in the palace? Wasn’t that better than living under the sky and tilling the ground all day until all of your bones were worn out from nonstop working?”
“I never wanted to be there in the first place,” I snapped at her. I was amazed at her audacity. “You owed people money and got what you deserved. I didn’t deserve to become a slave in a foreign land. That’s the difference between me and you.”
“That’s enough,” said Albert, raising his hands to stop our verbal war. “You two can argue all night about this and the outcome would be the same. Jade, I beg you in the name of everything that you believe in, to please, forgive my wife. She is deeply sorry for what she did to you.”
“Her apology won’t change the past,” I replied. I was still stewing in my anger and nothing anyone said would calm me down.