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“Yes, Avelyn, please have a seat.”
The girl sat down and waited patiently for the headmistress to finish with the report she was filling in. The woman finally signed it, then leaned back in her chair and gave Avelyn a bright smile.
“Congratulations!”
“Excuse me?”
“Mr. Maxwell Blackmane has just signed the contract and made the transfer. He was in a hurry because his pilot was waiting to fly him to London, so he didn’t get the chance to give you the news himself.”
Weird colors started dancing before Avelyn’s eyes and she couldn’t understand why. Was it because she hadn’t eaten all day except for Miss Potts’ cookies? The second she asked herself this question she realized she didn’t feel hungry anymore.
“What? I… I don’t…”
“Yes, Mr. Blackmane decided to buy you.”
A weak “no” died on Avelyn’s lips, and Miss Delacroix didn’t seem to have heard it. She continued talking about the contract, the negotiation, and then she probably continued with what it meant to be the bride of a werewolf, how privileged she was, and what responsibilities would fall on her shoulders, but Avelyn couldn’t concentrate on any of her words. Hundreds of thoughts were running through her mind as the school principal went on with her speech. They were so many, crashing against each other and becoming so tangled that she was unable to focus on any of them. “What about Delyse? This must be a mistake. No. No, no, no. What about Italy, my bakery? My freedom?” And that’s where all of them led. Freedom. “That idiot, that son of a…” She felt like crying. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she felt like the sip of water she had drunk just before coming to the office was threatening to spill out her mouth, right on Miss Delacroix’s papers. She gulped heavily and tried to find her voice.
“Wait, stop.”
“… only some minor details that need to be established, and then you can be on your way. Mr. Blackmane will be…”
“I said stop!” Avelyn jumped off the chair and flung it to the other side of the room in one swift motion. Miss Delacroix stopped mid-sentence, but didn’t show any sign that the girl’s violent gesture had scared her. At most, she was annoyed.
“This isn’t right. How could you sign the contract and sell me like that without even letting me know? Without asking for my opinion? Like I was a piece of meat you were eager to get rid of? And how could he make the decision without consulting me? Has he even considered that I don’t want him? That I’d say ‘no’?”
The school principal sighed, and in that moment, if she had paid attention, Avelyn would have seen a sign of resignation mixed with just a bit of compassion on the woman’s face.
“Avelyn, I can’t believe that after so many years you still refuse to understand how things work. Maxwell Blackmane asking you for your opinion? You don’t know what you’re talking about, child. He will get what he wants, and neither you, nor I would ever be able to convince him to do otherwise. Because this man’s choices are not up for discussion, and you’d better learn that fast for your own good.”
“What do you mean? Are you saying that he’d go as far as to force me to do something I don’t want to?”
“I don’t have to say it. You belong to him now, it’s implied.”
“Bullshit!”
“Avelyn…”
“No, you listen to me. This is bullshit and I won’t stand for it. I don’t belong to anyone. I will not marry Blackmane and there’s nothing he can do about it. We don’t live in the fucking Medieval Ages when women had no power over their own future.”
Miss Delacroix had had enough of Avelyn’s tantrum. She was never a patient person to begin with. “Watch your language, young lady, and listen to me closely.” She rose from her office chair, placed her palms firmly on the desk and leaned over it to fix Avelyn’s face with her cold, gray eyes. “This whole thing is, indeed, wrong, but not for the petty reasons you’ve so generously shared. It is wrong because it should have been Delyse, not you. Tomorrow, I’ll have to schedule a meeting with her father and explain this mess to him, convince him that it wasn’t the girl’s fault and assure him that she’ll catch a bigger fish in the as-near-as-possible future. I have no idea how that will happen, but there you go. It is also wrong because you’re complaining about it when you should thank the heavens that someone finally considered you worthy enough to take into their home, feed you and protect you, and not let you rot on the streets or in a shifter brothel where no one would have ever given a damn if you preferred foxes, dragons, bears, or wolves. I do wonder sometimes if Blackmane hasn’t chosen you only because he realized that you’re too old to be allowed to live here for much longer and he felt sorry for you. It’s wrong because he’s the most important client to have set foot on the grounds of Alma Venus in the past ten years, and the only thing we apparently had to offer him was a whiny little vixen who can’t sing, can’t dance, or cook, and who has never appreciated what this institution has done for her.”
Avelyn made a feeble attempt to stop her. She was trying to hold back her tears.
“No, let me finish. Your mother sold you to us when you were 8 months old. What do you think would have become of you if I hadn’t accepted to take you in? You would have ended up begging on the streets, eating rotten potatoes and moldy bread. Later, you’d have ended up selling your body at street corners to filthy human workers because no shifter, let alone an Alpha, would have ever looked your way. Have you thought about all that? Do you think your mother would have ever sent you to school, would have taught you how to read and write? I doubt that she herself could read the letters. And how did you show your appreciation for everything we’ve done for you, for all the money we spent on your education? You decided to get fat. Skip classes and get as fat as possible.”
Avelyn wasn’t sure she could take it anymore. She eyed the door and thought about running to her room and burying her face in a pillow where she could cry her pain away until the whole world faded and she fell asleep.
“Do you really think I haven’t considered the possibility that you were doing it on purpose? Do you think I haven’t thought of the fact that you might be sabotaging your own interviews, as few as they were, so that any interested shifter would refuse to buy you even at a smaller price? I have no idea what was in your mind, and, frankly, I don’t care anymore. What matters is that someone has finally bought you, at a very good price, mind you, and you’re able to pay Alma Venus back. You should be grateful.”
Miss Delacroix made a small pause to breathe. Avelyn’s face was beet red and her whole body was trembling, her hands squeezed into fists at her sides. She couldn’t trust her voice to speak.
“Now, here is what you’re going to do,” the headmistress continued. “You’ll go to your room, take a shower, make sure your luggage is ready for tomorrow morning, and say goodbye to all your friends. Try to get a good night’s sleep because Mr. Blackmane will be here tomorrow before noon, and then you’ll have a busy day. All right, Avelyn?”
She didn’t know how she made it out the office and up the stairs. The room was empty and it crossed her mind that Delyse was waiting for her in the cafeteria, but the only thing Avelyn could see clearly was her bed. She flung herself on the covers, and started crying so loudly that the pillow could barely muffle the sound. At some point she heard the door open, and soon felt the mattress sink under another’s weight. She didn’t know who it was, and she didn’t care. She refused to raise her face from the pillow or answer the person’s questions of “what happened?” and “are you all right?”. A small hand was gently rubbing her back, and Avelyn cried and cried until she felt there were no more tears left.
***
Avelyn’s nightstand was covered in a pile of used tissues which had started spilling on the floor. Claudia had to bring another box from the supplies room, and Avelyn had already used half of it. She was in bed, propped up on her pillow, with Delyse to her right, Claudia to her left, and Amelia at her feet, on the farthest edge of the bed. None of her roommates had had a chance to say anything, because the moment Claudia and Delyse had entered the room and saw Amelia trying to soothe their friend, Avelyn started to tell them what had happened in a torrent of words and tears. They all listened to her silently. Seeing her in that state made Claudia’s big, brown eyes tear up as well. Delyse was going through her own shock and wasn’t sure how to react. On one hand, she was aware of the tragedy that had befallen her friend. Avelyn’s dreams had been crushed in a matter of hours, and all because she had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. If the werewolf hadn’t seen her in the garden that morning, Delyse would have been the one to pack her bags right now and get ready for the trip to the Black Forest Mountains, where Blackmane’s clan lived. On the other hand, she couldn’t help feeling betrayed and even a bit jealous. She knew that Avelyn hadn’t done anything on purpose, but it was hard to think straight when her father’s reproachful voice was already ringing in her head. Amelia was the only one who was not impressed by Avelyn’s tragedy. She had been the one to find her lying in bed, crying and holding her pillow for dear life. She had thought that something truly awful had happened to Avelyn, and that’s why she had tried to calm her down. It was against Amelia’s unwritten rules to show sympathy, especially towards Avelyn, whom she almost despised, but at that moment the only reasonable explanation that had crossed her mind was that Avelyn had just found out she was being thrown out of Alma Venus earlier. Yes, with that kind of terrible faith Amelia was able to empathize, but not with Avelyn’s complaints that she had actually been bought by an Alpha wolf.
