Chapter 2.19: The Winter Night Exploration

When the dark-haired teenager opened her eyes again, it darkened the cabin by the night sky. Across from her, Liliko'i was sitting upward with her eyes on a cup of tea she held. To the heiress's surprise, there was a large teapot on the table between them, with another cup. When Leila started to sit up, only then did the blonde notice she had woken up. Startled, she jostled the tea in her hands and splashed some onto her dress. A faint blush dusted her brown cheeks as she looked downward. It was clear that she had been drifting off while the other woman was sleeping. So, when she realized that Leila had been up for some time, she became flustered. The smaller woman quickly scrambled to speak to the heiress, who was giving her a tired look of curiosity.

"Sorry…a nice man came and offered us some tea for free. I thought you wouldn't mind having some." With a look of uncertainty, the blonde avoided eye contact. She sounded like she expected the heiress to lash out.

Leila was quick to nip that anxiety in the bud. She smiled lovingly at the girl and reached across the table. Their hands touched Lili slowly, allowing her to hold her own and clutch at it. She rubbed the girl's shaking hand slowly with her pinky, moving it back and forth. Exactly in the rhythm of her rapidly beating, anxious heart. This display of skin-to-skin contact filled the blonde with relief. You could see her stress deflate and melt away into nothing as she finally squeezed back. Her body language also became more casual, her guard dropping after a moment of eye contact. Her openness, which showed the trust she had in her before deciding to speak, satisfied the heiress.

"You don't have to apologize. I don't want tea right now but remember, you can get anything you want." Leila shrugged her shoulders and pulled back to wave her hand dismissively. "I want you to enjoy this trip. Think of it as being like an early bachelorette party."

A shaky smile came onto Lili's face. "Y-Yeah, that sounds nice. A bachelorette party would be amazing." Her voice was quieter now as she suddenly looked sad.

This made the heiress make a verbal step back and take on a softer, more approachable tone. "What's wrong? We'll have an actual party before your wedding, of course. Where your family and friends back in your home country can come."

She hoped that by mentioning them, the blonde would cheer up. But this just made her look more depressed. The heiress realized that mentioning the wedding would instantly remind the girl of her fate. To be the heavily pregnant wife of an egomaniac with anger issues. Never being able to sleep or eat without having someone looking over her shoulder. Thankfully, Leila didn't intend to let that future pan out. If everything went right, she would have Liliko'i under her thumb. And Cale would have a knife going through the flesh and skin that composed his throat. She would kill the bastard, take Cleo's family estate as her own, and free Ezekiel of his chains. All of this was rather risky to try to do with the limited time she had. But the heiress was determined to not let the wedding happen. Even if it ended in disaster, she was going through with it.

"If you don't want to marry him, just tell me." The dark green-eyed woman commented. This made Liliko'i freeze and give her a look of utter disbelief. "Cale won't treat you or your child with respect. We both know he'll lash out at them whenever he wants."

"Cale only gets angry because I'm so childish. He would never hurt the baby. Can we just drop this, please?" Lili began to defend the man, but there was no bite. However, the blonde appeared to want to call off the engagement and run away as soon as possible.

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Leila shook her head and looked her in the eye. "My brother has hurt every woman he could get away with hurting. And they all were mature in ways he never was, so don't say your childishness is the case. He's just an abusive bastard who's mad he wasn't the favorite."

The teenager hadn't intended to speak so harshly, but she needed to get that out. None of the women that got with Cale were to blame for his treatment of them. They couldn't have known that he would drop the mask he wore and become an abusive monster. To their loved ones and friends, he was the perfect boyfriend. Cale brought them extravagant gifts and treated their best friend, their sister, and their daughter to expensive nights out in the town. That's what guys like him did: they groomed not only their victim but the entire family. The dark-haired woman was sure the same had happened with Liliko'i. But unlike the other women who either got away or were thrown to the side, Liliko'i got pregnant. Meaning she was stuck unless something happened to the baby and Cale moved on. Her autonomy had further trapped her.

"Please," Liliko'i still trembled as she tried not to cry. Her eyes were red and becoming puffy as she started to talk again, her voice thick in pain. "Let's drop it."

The heiress wanted to keep going but she knew if she pushed any further the blonde would crack. And she wasn't sure if the confined space they were in would help stop that. So the girl decided to just nod her head and pull back. The rest of that hour was rather quiet, with the only thing breaking it being Lili's sniffles. The poor girl was crying to herself in a corner, making Leila feel a bit guilty. She wanted to get it in the blonde's head that she didn't need Cale. That she was beautiful and strong without him. Then, with the girl feeling love and care from Leila would gain an upper hand against the bastard. She could slice off the snake's head without getting her hands too dirty. But right now she needed to shut her mouth and let Liliko'i cry alone.

Eventually, the younger woman stopped and Leila looked up to see if she was alright. To her relief, the woman had fallen asleep. All of that sobbing had tuckered her out, and she lay against the cabin wall with her teacup forgotten. From what the heiress could see she barely took more than two sips of it. Curious, the teenager picked up the teapot and opened it. Inside was what looked to be cold green tea that smells sweet. But when she took the time to pour it, the overwhelming foulness that overpowered her shocked her. The strange aroma was so bad she started coughing and gagged into her free hand. Immediately she put the pot down, grabbed the cup she poured, and dumped it back. She reached to take Lili's and sniffed it. The strong smell wasn't there with one whiff but that was because someone had sweetened the cup with a ton of honey.

'Shit. She may have been dosed with something.' Leila touched the girl's forehead, expecting it to be clammy and hot from a fever. To her confusion, it was normal.

This made her wonder if the pot had been dosed for the heiress specifically. And that the cup Liliko'i had been given was not only pre-poured but weaker. The teen struggled to identify what exactly was in the concoction. The sweeteners added were so powerful that they honestly were making the smell worse. And the tea was dark with no tea bags or leaves in sight. This left her feeling ticked off. Liliko'i was pregnant and even if the dose they gave her was light, it still could harm her. Leila didn't need to even ponder on who was the culprit. The redhead who had been there before was involved. That was probably why she had been so horrified that Liliko'i was pregnant. The stewardess wanted a dead noblewoman but not one with a child. Her nose wrinkled with disgust as she tried not to lose her cool and throttle the cow.

There were a lot of options as to why this happened. The stewardess could be a thief who drugged her rich victims before robbing them blind. Or the royals could have paid her to take her out with ease. It was honestly insulting either way that someone attempted to kill an assassin trained to deal with poison with it. That meant that the stewardess was sloppy or cocky. Leila had to hand it to her for having the poison sent while she slept. If she had been awake, one whiff would have alerted her to the scheme. Now she would have to hope and pray that the blonde wasn't harmed. This was something that weighed on her. She had been stupid to sleep in a new environment with so many enemies and targets on her back. Her body trembled as she blamed herself for the attack. Throwing a tantrum was pointless right now. She needed to find this stewardess and get some answers.