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"So he is a bully that likes you,"

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I TOLD HER all about the 'mysterious one' as best as I could whilst keeping it as vague as possible.

Yes, I was quite selective in what to say, keeping to myself the circumstances of our meeting.

I didn't think there was a need for her to know about my accidental drowning or the time that I almost died courtesy of an imaginary fire that Omkara had hypnotized me with.

There was simply no point in stressing her, I reassured myself, though part of me admitted I didn't want her to know just how 'badly' I had been doing, contrary to the picture she had concocted.

I could see her eyes beaming with pride.

I didn't want to take that perception of me away from her, because, despite all the things I had gone through, she was sort of right.

I had been brave- man I had to deal with Harvest, Raskei, and even Daya.

All in all, as I explained it to her, I couldn't help but feel some sense of accomplishment.

I then ended it all with that kiss on the forehead he had given me.

My cheeks heated up slightly at the memory and yet still felt deceived, knowing that once again Harvest had won whatever round of the game we were playing.

I had been winning for just a second when I squeezed some information out of him about his trinket, but a bare second later, he had managed to take the lead, leaving me standing there both confused and embarrassed at the same time.

Despite all my current better judgment, I was starting to think it would have been better if he had kissed me where I thought he would.

At least then I would be confused about something else, and less embarrassed but no- Harvest always played the winning hand, always the last say, always the winner.

I gritted my teeth at the thought of scratching my wrists.

"So he's a bully," Mom stated so causally it caused me to snap back to her, our eyes meeting as she raised an eyebrow at my silence.

This was a simple question to answer and I scoffed at this signing-

'no kidding'

"And what color is he again and what does he do?" she asked, her eyes narrowing down on me as if she was trying to get to something.

I had already explained the colors of Kingsland to her, but of course, it wasn't something you grasped once I guess.

'Yellow. Mind control' I signed slowly.

The light in her eyes slowly dimmed, and she breathed in lowly, "and has he ever tried to use it on you?" she asked, her tone soft, eyes searching mine.

I held in a breath, still stuck in her gaze, my mind shifting back to every minute he had.

Honestly, there were so many times it was hard for me to find a memory where he had not. But even in the instant that he hadn't, his cursed blue eyes had been enough of an intrusion to render me useless.

"He does," She answered her question, her jaw ticking, her lips paused.

My breaths were slow and shallow as I nodded slowly, scratching my wrists.

"As he ever made you do things.." she paused for a moment as if regretting what she was to soon ask, "you didn't want to do?"

Her tone was much more firm and all seriousness was put into it.

My eyebrows furrowed at this, and my mind turned, trying to read her expression, though I found myself nodding involuntarily thinking back to the incidents when he made me enter the ice-cold waters, on two occasions as well as how he forced me to be on his team.

The expression that had morphed onto her face left her looking hollow her breathing seemed nonexistent as she stared straight at me, speechless for some reason,

"What?" she hissed through her teeth, lowly her tone unrecognizable.

My eyes narrowed at her for a moment trying to understand why she had become so cold when it clicked and I shook my head quickly' signing

'nothing bad' quickly a nervous smile on my face, shifting forward, my hand resting on top of hers.

Her eyes studied me for a few seconds seemingly trying to convince herself, eyes shifting in mine, and I could sense the seriousness of the matter.

"Do not lie to me, Talanda."

I breathed slowly, placing a hand over my heart with a gentle smile.

Harvest admittedly had some dark characteristics that came with that sunny personality of his (sarcasm noted), but despite all of it, a singular memory flashed in my mind- turning around after handing me a shirt.

["I don't peep," he grunted out, before walking out of the door, closing it firmly behind him].

I shifted to when showed him how short I believed his shirt had been and he immediately covered me up and gave me his coat.

I held her gaze square in the face nodding, a genuine encouraging smile whisking on my face.

This seemed to do the trick as she let out a relieved breath, her hand reaching out for mine squeezing it tightly, the other on her chest as if she had dodged a bullet.

"I would not have forgiven myself," she whispered breathlessly underneath her breath, something I was unsure she had thought I would catch, a smile now engraved on her face.

"B-but tell me this," she cleared her throat taking a moment to bounce back to her sunny self.

"How on earth did he use it against your will?" she asked, raising her eyebrow,  as if in a 'just to make sure' way.

I thought about it for a moment.

The first was my fault, the one mistake I can fully admit was all my fault, following him into the restricted area.

Dumb move. Super dumb move.

I was asking for it then. I didn't exactly blame him for fishing me out after catching me eavesdropping.

I had it coming, although I do admit, there were several better ways he could have handled it.

In any case, I would not be telling my mother the first time was because of my incompetence.

The second, he didn't technically use his dilect to make me switch to his team, it was all in his intimidating frame- but the last time- maybe then, moments later I would have said he did it for the pleasure of seeing me a shivering mess but the truth was without him I wouldn't have had my dilect.

'To help me- do something I wasn't brave enough to do alone," I confessed slowly, my eyes reaching hers to which they softened, patting my hand gently as I glanced down licking my lips.

"So he is a bully that likes you," she chuckled.

I felt myself freeze eyes trailing up to her, watching her gaze dance in amusement.

"Seems to me like he just has a bad way of showing it- you know, the classic bad boy story," she chuckled, "it's a young lord Hans Worth," she chuckled with a shrug.

I WASN'T in the least bit amused by this, but she took it to her pleasure, teasing me as often as she used to despite my routine annoyance that I always ended up with my ears stinging and my cheeks heating up.

This was not a Lord Hans worth Situation.

He was only cold and unforgiving because of his history, but he treated Alana like a queen.

Harvest was far away from ever being a Lord Han Worth, even though he did cover the mysterious part quite well.

"You said it yourself, he kissed you on the forehead- you say teasing, I say flirting. Tomato, tomato-" she hummed.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

If that was all she was going by to reach that conclusion then I guess I could see why she would think that.

But I knew the parts I had left out to her.

Parts like he was only playing this 'game' with me, and that was just another move to leave me both hot and angry.

'C'mon Tala," Mom cooed, her eyes shining like she was a teenager, squealing for a moment.

"I've been waiting for this moment ever since you said your first word, and I realized you weren't going to be a baby forever," she grinned.

I chuckled at this, 'right statement, wrong moment," I signed, 'Believe me, he doesn't like me.'

"Just think about it, you say he's dark," she began.

'Everyone knows that,' I signed, with a slow huff not liking the current topic that she was setting on the table.

"But does everyone know how helpful he is to you? You did say he used his little mind powers to help," she began with a slight shrug, "I mean how many little things has he done for you that you're sure he hasn't done for or with anyone else?" she hummed, taking a scoop out of the soup I just know was cold now.

I was right when she gagged, but I was also lost in her statement.

It started with a trickle of flashbacks to more, from the sudden shift in his bipolar self to citing poems, wanting me to write something positive about him in my books, to be helpful and in some way- dare I say it- a shiver danced across my spine at the revelation.

He carried me and took care of me, after my first siren attack, then kept me warm the whole night, protected me from Daya that one time and that moment-

"Walk away-"  he pleaded.

Pleaded.-

Pleaded.

That echoed through me, the tone he used, the desperation in his tone. The anger in his eyes when he had seen me with Lucas. 

What if- No

No. That couldn't be it....could it? That is some kind of his own messed up attraction-Could Harvest like m-

No. I can't finish the sentence. Me?

Over Daya?

And yet, Mom's statement echoed through my mind.

I know how much Daya liked Harvest, I mean that was quite evident- but if she had to go to such extremes by stealing his trinket, an item given to him by his mother and something, he held very dear to him, just to get attention then maybe he didn't like her as much as everyone else thought he might, including Lucas Bowne.

His words flashed in my mind. 

He advised me to let Lucas know of my supposed feelings whilst he was still in his right mind so that he could let go of things he should have had a long time ago.

He was talking about Daya.

That was more apparent than anything else at this moment. He didn't sound like someone who particularly liked Daya to the extent of formatting a relationship.

He was way too cold to her when he chose to keep me on his team.

Yes, I was more than a hundred percent sure that he had not shown the sides of him I had seen to her.

This made a warm feeling cover my chest, though that was still doused in disbelief, my thoughts reminding me that I had probably only been shown this side because I was so stupid enough to stumble on his secret.

This was all a game.

a GAME to learn about my secret.

To have something to anchor me. I had to think that because if I gave in to the WHAT IF, deep inside I was afraid I was going to fall for his tricks.

Harvest was a beautiful being, and yet one thing I was proud of myself, was for seeing past that and knowing what exactly I would be getting myself into should I be so stupid.

No, I couldn't let myself think that in some way, he could like-

"So you see it now," Mom chuckled and my eyes flashed to her, shaking my head.

'It's not like that- he's just a bully," I signed back, my fingers fiddling against the surprisingly soft hospital bed covers.

"Fine, if you must insist on staying stubborn," she huffed, "You'll see it eventually," she replied with a small smile, " but meanwhile, I cannot sit back and watch you get bullied, you're a princess Talanda, whether in our out the Kingdom, act like it," she grinned amusedly.

'I thought the whole gist of this undercover thing is to not act like a princess," I replied jokingly.

Her eyes searched mine for a moment with a slight sigh, "this undercover thing is for your protection sweetheart," she rephrased, "and you don't have to bring the full meal onto the table," she chuckled, " just deal with him, deal with him with grace. You see Tala, Boys become desperate when a woman shows them what she wants just by their action. No is no, yes, is yes. It's in the confidence and high air," she replied with a nod in my direction.

My eyebrows furowed at this, wanting to dwell more on the subject but she was quick to move on to the next,

"Ooh! Tell me about the second boy," she giggled softly.

I smiled at this, though in the back of my mind one phrase echoed proudly as I scratched my wrists-

What if?

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Well... What it?

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