Page 42 of Of Blackened Blood (The Blackened Blade #3)

His gaze finds Micai as he leans slightly forward. And my eyes narrow at the move.

“That’s why I came today. I want to find out exactly when all this started. Maybe through talking it out with you, I can figure out things, and then maybe I wouldn’t be feeling like I’m ... going insane.”

Micai just stares at him before a small sigh escapes her perfect pink lips.

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to help, Knox. Do you want me to tell you when you started treating me like crap? Or before that when we were younger, and you all started leaving me behind for Seria?”

I can hear the annoyance in her voice and place my hand over hers. Letting her know I’m here for her. She glances my way, entwining our fingers as a small smile traces her lips before continuing.

“Why don’t you tell me what you remember, and I’ll try to fill in the gaps?” Her tone is a little lighter as she gives my hand a small squeeze.

Knox nods, dragging a hand down the back of his neck before beginning.

“My memories of before Seria are a little hazy and jumbled, but after she arrived ...” His gaze flickers to the table again, fumbling with his hands as he continues. “I remember things changing ... you changed.” He hesitates for a brief moment before lowering his voice and continuing.

“I-I remember you pushing Seria into the lake near our houses, you had some kind of disagreement with her.” His brows furrow, fiddling with the hem on his sleeve.

“And another time you hit her hand and pushed her away ... you weren’t happy about her joining the house.

There was also a time where she was left crying alone because you broke something precious from her mother .

.. it was shortly after she arrived at Bane manor. ”

My brows narrow. None of this sounds like our Micai.

And by the look on my Mate’s face and the tension in her gaze, I was right.

Knox’s eyes turn a little softer, lost in his damn memories and unaware of Micai’s feelings.

“Seria was so bright and bubbly, a fresh face to play with us. She was always so cheerful and easy-going. She only ever wanted to join in ...” His brows cinch tighter together.

“It seemed like you were a little jealous of her being around us back then ...” He whispers the words before his eyes quickly widen, flickering back and forth between me, Micai, and Creed.

“But maybe you were just worried about her taking away everything that you had. She was younger and everyone liked her so quickly. It’s understandable that you would feel threatened back then,” he rushes out. Like any of that was a good enough excuse for the shit he’s been spewing about Micai.

He meets Micai’s eyes and flinches at the dark look she’s wearing.

And a smirk stretches my cheeks. He couldn’t handle my Mate. She was too strong and beautiful for him. He never saw the truth anyway ... he still doesn’t.

A beat of silence passes between them before a scoff leaves Micai’s lips, annoyance seeping from every pore of her beautiful body as her gaze turns into a glare.

“Is that really what you remember? That I was jealous of her?” Her gaze burrows into his ... waiting for some kind of answer he clearly doesn’t have.

“None of those things happened the way you’ve remembered them, Knox.

Not one of them.” Her lips twist upward while watching him.

“I pushed her into the lake?” Micai scoffs, her glare becoming darker.

“She fell . I tried to help her, but you all appeared from behind me and came running to her rescue. You never even gave me a chance to talk before coming to your own conclusions, painting me as some bitter villain.” Micai shakes her head, her annoyance growing as she clenches her free fist.

“The time I pushed her hand away?” A dark smirk coats her lips.

“That was probably the time she tried to make me touch a dead mouse. Its body was already decomposing and she had gloves on. But she kept shoving it toward me even when I asked her to stop. And just when I pushed her hand away, she tumbled backward as if I had knocked her over ... and then you all showed up again.” Micai’s eyes narrow.

“Now that I think about it, the timing of her ‘falls’ were so well thought-out. And she always did these things out in the open where we could be seen and where we used to all play as kids.” A dark chuckle falls from her lips before she meets Knox’s gaze again.

“And what was the other one?” She glances toward me for a brief moment before remembering and turning back toward him.

“I broke something precious to her?” Her grin fades as her glare returns.

“When have I ever done something like that, Knox? Is that how you saw me back then? Someone who would intentionally do something like that?”

A beat passes as Knox’s brows furrow, his shoulders slumping before he shakes his head.

Micai shrugs. “But then you all believed her so easily when she shed a few tears. It was as if she was the one you had spent your childhood with and not me. You all left me behind for her, as if I never belonged with you in the first place.” Her brows cinch together, hurt and pain swirling in her gaze before her anger sparks forth.

“Also, how could I hate her for taking everything from me, Knox ... when I had nothing to begin with?” She leans closer to him, her voice growing dark and low. “You know that better than anyone.”

The look they share has my brows furrowing. What had my little Mate suffered in that place? What the hell had she been put through there?

I turn toward Knox, thinking about how they all turned their backs on her for Seria . Were they all delusional, even at that age? Did they honestly believe that snake over Micai even back then?

“The only ones I had back then were you, Kane, Anders, and Xander, and you all pushed me away after Seria arrived.” Micai’s cute brows pinch together.

“ You all changed toward me. It didn’t take you long either, but I guess she was a ‘fresh face’ and so ‘easy-going.’ I guess that was a nice contrast to the miserable, gloomy girl you were all used to. ”

Another scoff falls from Micai’s plump lips and has my own quirking upward, relishing in her words finally putting him in his place.

I give her hand an encouraging squeeze as she continues.

“I always wondered what she said or did to make you all turn against me the way you did ... how you all easily left me behind knowing I had nothing and no one else. How all these years you’ve watched on as other students tormented me ... and just stepped over me.”

I clench my free fist when her words finally filter in, the grin instantly fading from my face. Anger growing and swirling inside me with the thoughts of what she has gone through without us.

These bastards had put my Mate through more than I thought. And they all deserved to suffer for it.

I glance back toward Creed, his gaze focused fully on Micai as she continues.

“What did I ever do to deserve that? Hadn’t we been close? Hadn’t you all made promises?”

Knox flinches back with her words.

“Weren’t we supposed to be a family ? You threw everything away ... you threw me away, and so easily.”

I can feel the slight hurt with her last words. And understand now why my Mate was always so guarded around people.

She was scarred from their betrayal, even if she didn’t realise it.

I want to reach beside me and wrap her in my arms, soothing her pain.

And rip all her enemies to shreds.

“No, Micai ... she did something to me—” Knox begins before I cut him off, slamming my free hand onto the table.

I narrow him with a glare. “No, not at that age. Whatever abilities she had wouldn’t have been very strong back then.”

If my theory is right, then it was the boost she’s had from absorbing Micai’s powers through that bracelet that got her to the level she’s been at the past few years. She wouldn’t have had that strength back then. Especially in the beginning when she hadn’t given Micai the bracelet.

It’s a completely plausible thought, especially since her power over Knox and the others is already waning since Micai stopped wearing her evil bracelet.

“Also, no matter the magic, you had to have had feelings for her in the first place for her to be able to manipulate them. She was ‘bubbly’ and ‘everyone liked her,’ remember?” I lean closer, my voice falling low. “That included you, didn’t it?”

Knox’s eyes widen, his gaze frantic as I lean back and wrap my arm around Micai, pulling her closer and placing a kiss on her head.

I don’t doubt that they were being manipulated by Seria. From all the dark, horrible energy I felt slithering around her I know she’s had a certain control over them. She even tried to latch it onto me when I was in her presence. Thankfully, I’m not weak like them.

But that doesn’t excuse the pain Micai has gone through because of them.

It doesn’t erase that they turned their back on her for Seria and believed her over Micai when they weren’t under her manipulation.

As much pity as I feel toward his situation, I feel a hundred times more broken for the little girl they left behind. Who I now know had no one else.

Knox’s brows pinch down further, all colour drained from his face as his eyes scrunch together in a look of pain. His hands reach up to each side of his head as the pain seems to worsen, his body slumping slightly onto the table.

“Do we have any water around here?” Micai turns my way, worry taking over her expression before glancing around toward the rink.

“There’s an old vending machine in the back.” I pull myself up from the booth and reluctantly let go of her. “I restocked it just recently. I’ll go grab something.”

I give Creed a look, one I know my brother can read well. He gives me a curt nod, his gaze focused fully on Knox now as he moves forward and takes a place beside Micai.

Even with everything that’s happened between him and Micai, I know he won’t let anyone hurt her. Especially if the look in his eyes these days is anything to go by.