17

Jade’s POV

Bakito hesitated for a long moment, her eyes fixed blankly on the dark floorboards as if she was debating whether to open up. She swallowed hard, taking a small, shaky breath before her trembling lips finally parted.

"Well..." Bakito began, her voice dropping into a fragile whisper that barely carried across the quiet room. "I... I’m not actually supposed to be the one standing here today. It wasn't supposed to be me."

I tilted my head slightly, my brow furrowing as I listened closely to every single word. "What do you mean?"

Bakito squeezed her small fingers together, her pale knuckles turning white as she looked up at me with tear-filled eyes. "It was supposed to be my sister... my elder sister, Kara. We have been inseparable ever since we were tiny little girls. She isn't just my blood; she is my absolute best friend in the whole world. We shared everything together—our secrets, our clothes, our dreams. We did every single thing side by side."

A heavy, mournful look settled over her youthful features, making her seem far older than her sixteen years.

"But Kara was born very sick," Bakito continued, her chest heaving with a soft, quiet sigh. "She suffers from sickle cell disease, while I was born with severe asthma. But her condition... her pain has always been so much worse than mine. She lives in constant agony. She has specialized doctors who have to come and examine her every three days without fail. They have to administer heavy medicine and treatments to her constantly... If she misses those treatments for even a few days, her body collapses. She simply cannot survive without them."

She paused, biting her bottom lip so hard it lost all its color, as fresh, glistening tears welled up along her lower eyelids.

"I don't know why we were born like this," Bakito murmured, her voice laced with a deep, aching bitterness. "People back in our pack always whispered terrible things about our family. They said our father committed awful, unforgivable crimes against the Moon Goddess... and that the Goddess cursed our bloodline, punishing both me and my sister with these terrible illnesses."

She wiped a rogue tear from her cheek with the back of her sleeve, giving me a sad, broken little smile.

"Because of our sick bodies and all those nasty rumors, the other children in the pack never wanted to play with us," she whispered softly. "We were always completely alone. But we didn't care, because we had each other. Kara and I did everything together. She is my entire life, Jade. She can't function without me, and I can't survive without her."

Her small hands began to shake violently again as the memory of recent events flooded her mind.

"Until... until just a few days ago," Bakito stammered out, her voice cracking under the weight of her grief. "Our father came back home from an urgent pack meeting. He walked into the house with a cold, hollow expression on his face and made a sudden announcement. He told us that Kara was going to be taken away."

Bakito’s voice trembled as she recalled the sheer panic that had gripped her chest that night. "I panicked immediately. I ran up to him, grabbing his arm and begging him to tell me how long she would be gone, where she was going... but he just pushed my hands away. He said he had no idea how long she would be away, and that she was being taken the very next morning as a sacrificial slave to the Viper Alpha to settle his massive debts."

She pulled her knees even tighter against her chest, her entire frame quivering as she relived the nightmare.

"After he walked away, Kara and I ran straight up to her bedroom," Bakito cried out softly, her tears spilling over her lashes and running freely down her blotchy cheeks. "We locked the door and held each other tight, weeping until our throats were raw. I was so terrified for her. I looked into her pale face and begged her, 'Kara, please, let's run away together tonight! We can escape into the forest!' But Kara... Kara just shook her head."

Bakito choked back a heavy sob, her small chest trembling as she continued. "She refused to run. She smiled through her tears and held my hands, telling me that wherever she was taken, I should come and rescue her when I grew stronger. She told me to trust that fate would somehow bring us back together."

She looked straight into my eyes, her expression raw with pure, selfless love and unimaginable pain.

"But I couldn't let her go, Jade!" Bakito cried out, her voice breaking completely. "I knew the truth! I knew that if she stepped foot inside this brutal fortress, she wouldn't survive for more than a few days! She can't even carry a heavy bucket of water by herself! She can't dress herself when her joints are swollen with pain! How could I possibly stand by and let my sick, fragile sister become a slave?"

She took a deep, shuddering breath, lowering her gaze to her lap as she confessed her secret.

"So... I took a terrible risk," Bakito whispered softly. "That night, while she was sitting on her bed weeping, I secretly mixed heavy sleeping drugs into her glass of water. As soon as the medicine kicked in and she fell into a deep, unconscious sleep, I dragged her onto the bed and covered her up. I took her finest dress, put it on over my own clothes, and pulled a heavy black veil completely over my face to hide my features."

A fresh wave of uncontrollable sobs wracked Bakito’s small body, her face crumpling into absolute sorrow.

"When the Alpha's guards arrived at our front door at dawn," she whimpered out, "I stepped out into the hallway in her place. I kept my head bowed and my face covered, pretending to be Kara. I quietly walked out of our house and climbed into the back of the guards' armored carriage... leaving my sister safe in her bed. And that's when... that's how I..."

Bakito couldn't finish her sentence. The immense weight of her sacrifice, her fear, and her overwhelming sorrow completely broke her restraint. She buried her pale face into her small hands, bursting into loud, heartbroken tears that echoed mournfully through the vast, quiet chamber.

My heart shattered for her. Without thinking twice, I reached out and pulled her trembling body into a warm, protective embrace, rubbing her back as she wept against my shoulder.

Just then, before I could whisper a single word of comfort to her, a sharp, cold voice sliced through the heavy air from behind us.

"Hello... Get down off that bed, both of you."