The-Wrong-Bride-Ares--Raven’s-story-(Maura,-Catharina)_bibis

slamming closed following shortly after.
“Raven,” I murmur. “I’m sorry. She shouldn’t have said all that. I think she’s just been having a
hard time with everything that’s going on. You know her heart is in the right place, right? She’s just
hurting and lashing out.”
Raven looks up at me, and my heart fucking shatters when I see the tears in her eyes. Raven rarely
cries. I can count the times I’ve seen her cry on one hand. It’s Hannah who bursts into tears over the
smallest matter, but never Raven. A tear drops down her cheek, and my heart clenches painfully.
“Don’t,” she says, her voice trembling. “Don’t defend her like that, Ares. It kills me when you do
that, can’t you see? You keep promising me that you’ll give me your all, yet you run out at the sound of
her voice.” She runs a hand through her hair, her eyes flashing. “And then you just stand there when
she’s telling me that you’ll never be mine — not a single word of denial. How am I supposed to
believe your words when your actions say otherwise? It isn’t her I’m concerned about. It’s you.
You’re making me feel like a part of you truly does still love her, and I can’t stand it. The way you
acted just now made me feel like you don’t truly care about me.”
I walk up to her and grab her shoulders, a sense of desperation washing over me. I’ve never felt
such intense need to take away someone’s pain. “Raven, you know that I don’t love her.” I tighten my
grip on her. “And of course I care about you. You meant the world to me before we even got married,
Raven. You’ve always been one of my closest friends.”
She looks up sharply, her torment mixing with anger. “Did you see me as a friend when you fucked
my face just now, Ares?”
“Fuck, Raven. You know that’s not what I meant.”
She pushes against me and walks away, pausing by the door. “You said you feel trapped in this
marriage, but how do you think I feel? I was forced to marry someone I’ll never stand a chance with
— someone who will never even be able to look at me without thinking of my sister. Have you ever
stopped to think about what I might have wanted out of a marriage? I want happiness too, Ares. I can
see now that you will never give me that, no matter what I do. I’ll never be her. When given a choice
between hurting either of us, it’s always me you’ll choose. I’ll never be your priority, not truly.”
She grits her teeth as another tear runs down her beautiful face, and then she walks out, the door
falling closed behind her softly. Raven has always been a quiet storm, unexpected yet powerful, and
despite what she might think, I never stood a chance against her.