Tainted

Chapter Seventeen

(A/N: To anyone who has been regularly reading this story, I apologize for taking forever to update. Between the technical difficulties with my phone and this app update and the time I took to finish the plot I really let time get away from me. But the hardest work is done. My wattpad app is working smoothly again. And I've gotten everything in order so updates won't be a month apart and instead should be a week or two apart like usual. Sorry for this long author note lol and enjoy the chapter. Thanks for reading.)

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"We should talk about this." Ian says, ending the blissful silence in the car.

"There's nothing to talk about." The words were announced before I could consent to their departure. It wasn't the honest answer I had in mind. Instead it was the easy, snarky thought conjured up in my brain.

"There's nothing to talk about?" He asks calmly. The soothing purr of the car's engine surrounds us as no more words are exchanged.

"Nothing happened." I say dryly, my face dead and void of emotion.

"Everything happened." Ian snaps, his loud voice startling me. "Your sister is on the run, you ran away, you broke into my dad's home, and now my dad and the other leaders are talking about locking you away."

"They're slimy scum, just like everyone else I've met in this lifetime." I snap, my words sharp and my tone loud to match his. "Locking me away in a cell would be too kind. I bet they're planning on killing me and Rita." I catch Ian's gaze after the words are aired and I glare at him, mentally telling him to pay attention to the road.

"Who told you that?" He asks, trying to hide his panic with a phony shocked expression.

"Who didn't tell me that? Oh, that would be you. I always knew that there were secrets in that society of yours but I never believed they'd be this big. I never believed that they involved me and that they were targeting Rita and me and they're trying to kill us! Why?" I yelled. I'm angry, not just at Ian but at the whole goddamned world. It seems like this whole thing was a set up and they used my vulnerability when I first discovered my abilities against me. They lured Rita and me into their trap and they used Ian as the perfect distraction.

"They aren't targeting you. It doesn't matter that you broke into the place, home, palace, whatever my father considers it, but nothing bad is going to happen to you." He assures and I believe him, but that doesn't lessen my concern for Rita.

"What about Rita?" I ask. I know that my plan was to find her and hand her over to someone who can either cure her or kill her but I've been having doubts since the idea came into my mind and I can't find it in me to hurt my own sister. "If they're just looking for a Valentine to kill, they can kill me! They can just save Rita."

"No!" Ian yells and all goes silent. I'm still bewildered, confused, and shocked and I can't pull the voice from the back of my throat and ask him why. "Some sacrifices have to be made." He says quietly. I just shake my head.

"Not Rita. She can't be sacrificed, not unless it's the only thing that will free her." I say, my voice shaking. "This is my fault. She told me it was my fault. I did this to her somehow, so shouldn't I be punished and not her?"

"You may see this as selfish," Ian starts as his fingers tighten around the steering wheel. "But I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I can't save everyone. I'm trying to also save your sister but she's making it very difficult. We don't even know what's wrong with her. So, the way it's looking now, she won't make it through this alive. But you will." He says and I frown.

"Well, when we find her you have to let me try to help her. Even if it costs me-"

"See, that's where you don't get it. It won't cost you anything. I won't let you give your life for hers." He says and the venom in his voice as he mentions her sets me off.