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Selene's Pov
Niklaus lied.
Of course he did. His little games, his schemes—this was no different. All along, he knew my sister was the doppelgänger, yet he wormed his way closer, letting me believe, for one foolish moment, that he actually cared. I meet his eyes now—cold, distant, utterly devoid of emotion. They stare back at me as if I'm no more significant than a pawn in his grand chessboard of deceit.
My hand tightens around the crumpled photo of Katherine, her smirk almost mocking me, as though she too was in on the secret. And our conversation from yesterday? Oh, that plays back in my head on a loop:
"You've already found them, haven't you?"
"Yes, I've found her."
Her. My Sister.
When I glare at him, his face barely shifts—just a slight raise of the eyebrows. As if to ask, "What's wrong?" God, I hate that I can read him so well now, that I can decode every twitch of his damn face. He's left his mark on me in the past month, and I despise the fact that I even believed for a second that it was real. But no, it was all part of his bloody charade—to get to my sister, to get to the doppelgänger.
And then there's Alexander, standing there with that same guilty look in his eyes, the one he's had since this all began. But now he won't even meet my gaze, instead fixating on his hands as they fidget restlessly. Guilt, shame, and lies—all flashing before me, and I can't help but scoff.
"You knew, didn't you?" My voice isn't loud, nor is it angry. It simply exists—detached, distant.
Alexander runs a hand through his hair, clearly torn, shrugging as if that's some kind of answer. Pathetic. I open my mouth to say more, but another realization hits me like a tonne of bricks—something far worse.
"Knew what?" Elijah's voice breaks the silence, his concerned gaze flickering between me and Niklaus. "What are you talking about?"
Nik looks... shocked? Oh, so he didn't expect me to piece this all together, did he? Elijah's gaze sharpens as he says, "Niklaus?"
Ignoring Elijah, I keep my eyes on Alexander, addressing him as I laugh—a sharp, hollow sound. "You left me at the Gilberts', didn't you?"
And I don't mean to laugh again, but the absurdity of it all is overwhelming. It's so bloody ridiculous, so utterly tragic, that I end up laughing uncontrollably, crushing Katherine's photo in my trembling hands. My laughter echoes in the room, and I run a hand through my hair, fingers shaking from the sheer disbelief of it all.
"Selene..." Elijah's voice is soft, concerned, but I turn to him with a smile that's anything but genuine.
"Oh, no—don't you see how funny this is?" I ask, voice laced with a dark amusement. "First, I'm tossed around like some toy, played with by people who claim to be my family. And all along, it was a trap—something bigger, something designed to lead right here, to this."
