Heiress in Distress

•Chapter 38•

• Word Count: 2,400

It's established. It was Elias who saved me and Armin from those men. That's it. No matter how hard my brain twists and turns onto itself, I find that there's no other plausible explanation.

Aurick shuts the door to Armin's room and locks it, and when he turns to us -Armin and I seated on his bed, prepared to be scolded by our dad-, he places both hands on his hips and purses his lips.

"How are we going to do this?"

We both remain silent.

He exhales a breath of frustration and points a finger at us, "You two are going to get yourselves killed, do you realise that?"

No response.

"What were you thinking? Why would you go after a man like that, and not to mention, alone?!" He shakes his head, a look of absolute disappointment etched on his features.

"Armin," Aurick starts, pinching the bridge of his nose.

I spot Armin's stiffening from the corner of my eye.

"What are you after? What were you trying to achieve?" He gestures at Armin's beaten form, "This?"

Armin's jaw ticks as he looks to the side.

Aurick now uses both his hands while talking, as if barely containing his anger, "The two of you are behaving like children, as if feeding your curiosity matters more than your lives,"

He folds both his arms now, "Did you at least achieve something? Or did you just endanger your lives for no reason? Was it-"

"-You're missing the most important part," Armin says through clenched teetch, crossing his arms.

Aurick runs his palm down his face, "That you almost died taking a beating?"

Armin glares at his elder brother, "That there's someone else involved,"

This silences Aurick momentarily.

"If it wasn't you who came to our rescue, then who?" He stands up, "Who would distinctly show up to a secret meeting like that in a run-down warehouse?"

Aurick shoots me a look, and it takes seconds to understand what he's tacitly insinuating. I shake my head in response, trying to communicate my obliviousness. Despite what the situation has been entailing, I'm still not entirely certain whether it was Elias or not. What I am certain of, however, is that Elias would never dump us in the middle of the road like that.

Armin looks between the two of us through narrowed eyes, but says nothing.

Aurick sighs loudly, and takes a seat on Armin's desk, "Can you two at least tell me what is it you're after?"

Armin and I communicate through a look, before Armin speaks, "We're chasing a lead,"

It takes a whole of thirty minutes to explain everything to Aurick, who sports a deep frown the whole time. He's trying his hardest not to reveal his true feelings and it's quite apparent through the rhythmic clenching and unclenching of his fist, which sits on his knee.

"What the two of you are doing is ineffectual," He says, "It won't... it won't change anything," He looks at me, "It won't change the past,"

His words ruffle my feathers, but I refuse to show any sort of emotion. I stand up to leave but Aurick grabs my wrist before it reaches the doorknob, "Lily, please," his voice is softer now, "We've spoken about this before, I don't want you or Élise, especially Élise, in the face of danger,"

I snatch my hand from his grip, "You don't get to dictate me around. You don't get to worry about me or Élise, especially Élise, as long as you, yourself, are hiding things,"