Fire And Ice

Chapter 86 - Return

Natalia's P. O. V

'Why did you say that to her?' Candy sighed in my head.

'I'm just trying to protect her.' I scrubbed at the dish in my hand with a little too much force and the water from the sink splashed all over my shirt.

I groaned, stepping back with my dripping hands in the air as I looked down at my damp clothes. After a few muttered curses, I returned my hands to the sink and finished up, placing the last of the dishes in the drying rack then wiping my hands off with a towel.

Candy waited till I was back in my room before continuing softly, 'You know you can protect her without pushing her away.'

Could I really?

The thought of Hailey being harmed had been one of my biggest fears. If it came to it, I'd abandon the entire plan for the sake of keeping her safe. On the nights when nightmares of my failure plagued my sleep and I woke to the sick fears of what they'd do to my dear sister because of me, I knew I'd burn the world down if it meant keeping her out of harm's way.

But of all the things I'd feared losing my sister to, myself hadn't been one of them. Seeing her horror at my actions weighed on me more than I would have liked. And short of leaving things in the hands of the Royals when the Lightwoods were arrested, I could think of no other way to protect her from this side of me that didn't involve pushing her away.

'As long as she's safe, I won't stop what I'm doing,' I admitted, looking down at my hands, 'but I don't want her to think I'm the monster after everything.'

'You could stop.' She said in a rush of words, 'Leave this to the Royals. They'll be here in two days and the Lightwood Pack has no clue. Drop Brittany and the others off somewhere in the forest and let the authorities take care of them. It's not too late-'

Heat thrashed about inside me, seeping through my pores and singeing my clothes. I closed my eyes, sure that anything I even looked at would burst into flames. The thought of leaving Harry, leaving Callum, leaving Clark to be dealt with by anyone but me, in any way but how I deemed fit...

If that happened, what would be the point? How could I let the hell I went through and the years of preparation since escaping amount to a simple arrest and disbandment?

"I," I declared through clenched teeth, "will be the one to punish them. Their arrest will be nothing more than the nail in the coffin I will put them in."

She said nothing, slinking back in my mind.

A knock sounded at the door, pulling me from my anger. My temperature dropped at the distraction and I went to open the door, finding Hailey standing there.

"Hey..." The single word was full of concern, having obviously heard, and likely felt, my earlier mood.

"Hi."

Her eyes went down to the burn marks on my no longer damp shirt then back to my face, "Can I come in?"

I stepped aside, letting her into the still tepid room. I watched a sweat drop roll down the back of her neck and disappear under her tank top before she turned to face me.

She got straight to the point, "I don't agree with the lengths you're going to. You burned half the face off our half-sister, hunted and maimed a pregnant woman, you plan to take the tail of our half-brother and kill our dad. And who knows what you're gonna do to your former mate..."

She sighed, taking my hands with a wince that told me they were still hot, "But I'm not you. I can't even fathom what they must have put you through, how you must have felt." Her eyes searched mine, "I understand. I understand and I love you. That's why I'm here and that's why I'm not going anywhere till you come out of this on the other side."