The first thing they did was embrace.
Melanie hugged her sister tightly, her face moving into Raven’s shoulder, like a child holding her mother.
Raven held her, being the crutch as usual.
They stayed that way for a long time.
I lingered just on the outside, watching them.
Raven pulled away and rubbed her sister’s arms. “That dress is so gorgeous on you.”
“It’s mostly the dress, not me.”
Raven smiled. “No, it’s not.”
“You’re the one who steals the show tonight, Raven. That dress was made for you.”
“Well, black is my color.” She smiled before she sat on the couch beside Melanie.
They were both oblivious to me because they were absorbed in each other. They just stared, like they didn’t know where to start.
Raven held Melanie’s hand on her thigh. “How are you?”
“No complaints. He’s good to me. What about you?”
She paused as she looked at her sister, as if contemplating whether she should tell her all the shit that happened at the camp before we left. She made her decision and didn’t reveal it. “Good. I really love being in Paris. Magnus has an apartment near my old place, so I get coffee in the morning and go shopping… It’s nice.”
“He lets you go alone?”
She nodded.
“Wow, he trusts you.”
“He does.” She looked at their joined hands. “It’s not that I’ve given up. It’s just…if I run, it’ll put Magnus in jeopardy, and I can’t do that. Does Fender let you go where you want?”
“Yes. But it rarely happens.”
“Why?”
“Because he wants to come with me every time I want to go somewhere.”
“To watch you?”
“I think he just wants to be with me, actually. But he’s given me one of his cars and has let me drive away before.”
Raven was quiet, just watching her sister.
“I’m trying to convince him to let you go, but he won’t budge.”
“Yeah, I don’t think he ever will.”
“I don’t know… Give me more time. I think he’ll do it for me.”
Raven dropped her gaze, like she didn’t believe that would ever happen. “You know, if you were to kill him…it might fix all our problems.”
Melanie’s eyes widened, like the suggestion was unexpected.
“In his sleep or something.”
Melanie slowly pulled her hand away from her sister’s. “I…I can’t do that.”
“If you do, the camp will belong to Magnus. He’ll let everyone go—”
“I said I can’t.” She dropped her gaze and stared at her hands in her lap.
Raven looked disappointed, but after a few seconds, she hid that expression. “Why?”
“Because…I can’t do that to him.”
When Raven started to understand the truth about their relationship, she couldn’t hide the revulsion that spread across her face. “Melanie, this is the man who raped you—”
“He didn’t.” She raised her gaze and looked at her sister, absorbing the disgusted look directed at her. “I never said that.”
“But he took you from the cabin, put you in another… He dragged his fingers against your cheek and said you tried to get away from him.”
She shook her head. “He put me in a different cabin so he could be alone with me, but he never forced me. He would just have dinner with me and said he would wait until I was ready. And then…I was ready.”
Raven was stunned into silence.
Melanie bowed her head again, in shame.
It was exactly what I suspected, that Melanie had never been putting on a production, that the affection between them was genuine. She went back to him to save her sister…but she also wanted an excuse to be with him again.
“Melanie…I understand we’ve been in dire circumstances and it’s easy to grow attached to anything that’s comforting, but this is the man who enslaves and kills innocent women, women that we’ve known. How can you possibly feel that way about him?”
She raised her chin and looked at Raven. “The same reason you feel that way about Magnus.”
The anger that appeared on Raven’s face happened instantly, her breathing deeper, her face flushing slightly. “They are not the same, Melanie. Magnus is nothing like that monster.”
“How are they different?” Melanie questioned. “Both men don’t hang the women themselves, but they both work there. How is it different? Magnus is just as guilty, and yet you look at him the way Fender looks at me.”
Raven took a few breaths before she responded. “Magnus doesn’t agree with the way the camp is run and has expressed that many times to Fender, but Fender ignores it. Magnus is the one who risked his neck to save us both. What has Fender done other than buy you pretty things? I’m sorry, but to compare the two men is fucking insulting. How can you feel any affection for the man who’s the boss of that camp? How?”
Melanie held her sister’s gaze, watery shame in her eyes. “I just… I can’t explain it.”
“Well, you better try.”
“He’s just…more than that. He takes care of me, he’s good to me, he’s…a man. He’s not like the other boys out there, and I like that. I know it’s wrong, but I can’t change the way I feel. I can’t kill him. I can’t do it, okay? I’m sorry.” Her eyes watered until the tears dripped down her cheeks.
Raven held her silence, but it was obvious that she struggled to process all of that without losing her temper. “If you don’t kill him, I’ll never get out of that camp. The women will never get out of that camp. Magnus will never be able to be free.”
She kept her head down. “Why can’t Magnus do it—”
“Because Fender will kill him. And Magnus won’t kill his brother, so…”
“You can kill Magnus and run—”
“Don’t say that again.” Raven lost her temper, her eyes like daggers. “You know Magnus is not like him. I don’t even need to say it. Lie to yourself all you want, but it won’t change reality. Magnus is the hero…and Fender is the villain.”
Melanie kept her gaze down and couldn’t look at her sister. “Look, I’m willing to set him up for his downfall. I’m willing to sneak around and carry your secrets. I’m willing to do anything and everything to help you and those girls that are stuck there, but I can’t kill him myself. I’m sorry…” Melanie started to cry.
Seeing her sister break down made Raven sheathe her anger. Her hand went to Melanie’s shoulder then into her hair, tucking it behind her ear like a mother with a daughter. “Melanie, it’s okay… Don’t ruin your makeup.”
She straightened and wiped her tears with her fingers, bringing herself to calm. “I know I can get him to set you free. I know I can…”
“But that doesn’t fix the problem, Melanie. Even if I’m free, the camp is still continuing.”
She shook her head. “We tried to stop it once before. There’s nothing we can do.”