Read Novel Full Chapter 225: The Fool
Chapter 225: The Fool
Diane and Seamus sat across from each other, separated by a small table. Beyond the porch, everything was white.
Snow covered the ground, and the only sounds came from flakes settling softly or animals moving through the trees in the distance.
It was peaceful. At least, it should have been.
Diane shifted again in her chair, shoulders tense, posture stiff. She looked like someone sitting on needles rather than a cushion, fingers curling and uncurling in her lap. She never once looked up.
The silence stretched on, long enough to become uncomfortable.
Seamus finally sighed. "So, what do you want to talk about?"
He already had a guess. It was the same unresolved tension from before they went north. Was he still angry at her? Yes, a little. Mostly because the quiet life in Rowani had ended the moment it started.
Vincent still had not sent him any message, but Seamus was certain of one thing. Anyone who held a grudge against Andrew would surface soon enough.
’I’ll drag him back to Rowani after this. Let him deal with what he started.’
"I’m a fool."
Diane’s voice was low, brittle. Her hands clenched so tightly her knuckles paled. She kept her gaze fixed on the floor.
"I thought you would love me the way you love my sister," she continued. "But you won’t. Because I’m not her."
She stopped for a moment, breathing unevenly, then forced herself to go on.
"So let me help you defeat your enemies in Rowani. I mean, your father’s enemy."
When she finally looked up, her crimson eyes met his. They looked like Isolde’s, but there was warmth there, and resolve. Not emptiness.
"Diane," Seamus said quietly, "of course I wouldn’t love you the same way I love your sister. You’re your own person. A different vampire, with a completely different personality."
She let out a hollow breath. "Yeah. I just realized how pathetic I was."
Her tone turned bitter, but she didn’t stop herself. "I knew from the start I could never win against my sister."
Her shoulders slumped, as if something inside her finally gave out.
"But it’s fine now," she said. "I understand. If no one loves me, then I’ll just love myself."
Seamus opened his mouth, then closed it again.
He couldn’t lie to her. And she didn’t need empty reassurance or false hope that even he wasn’t sure he could give.
Instead, he moved closer and sat beside her. His hand reached out and rubbed the top of her head gently.
"Of course you can love yourself," he said.
"You’re already good the way you are. You just lack confidence. You’re not lesser than anyone, Diane, so you don’t need to be afraid someone will take something from you."
She nodded, smiling faintly, fighting back tears.
Then she looked at him again and said something that made him blink.
"But it’s okay if I still try my best to make you love me, right?"
Seamus burst out laughing, startled but not unkind. "Of course. Just don’t be reckless. Love isn’t something you can force anyway."
"I understand," Diane said softly, nodding.
And for the first time since she sat down, she looked lighter. Color slowly returned to Diane’s face, a faint flush creeping up her cheeks as she leaned a little closer to him, careful in her movements, as if she did not want to cross a line or disturb him.
Seamus chuckled softly and shook his head before speaking again. "And what did you mean when you said you wanted to defeat Andrew’s enemies?"
She hesitated, then exhaled. "My mom said she did everything to bait your father’s enemies out using your existence. But I don’t think it’s that simple. I think she wants the two Crests from the fallen Covenants."
"The Nycteris and Cinera," Seamus murmured.
Those two Covenants had every reason to seek revenge for what Andrew had done to them. Isolde wanted them to surface, to take the Crests once they did.
But would Madeline allow that?
The thought unsettled him. Those Covenants were closer to victims than perpetrators. If they clashed, would the world truly be better for it?
He could not imagine that outcome, especially knowing they would be crushed either way.
Then another thought followed, bitter and sharp.
They were also the reason his mother’s life had been destroyed.
He clenched his hands and forced the doubt away. Sympathy would not save anyone. Anyone standing in his way had to be removed, especially those tied to the ruin of the lives he cared about.
"I understand, Diane," he said finally. "But I don’t think they’ll move while I’m still around, so—"
"But they don’t know that yet," she cut in. "We can use it. We can trap them."
She grabbed his hand tightly. "Please, Seamus. Let me do something right this time."
He sighed, then nodded. He needed someone he could trust to keep watch over Rowani, and Vincent was still a stranger to him. Diane was different.
He placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "Then don’t betray me this time. And don’t let Isolde play you like a fool again. Believe in yourself."
She startled slightly, then nodded. She understood. Isolde would use anything and anyone, even her only remaining child.
"I’ll try," she said quietly. "I’ll tell you everything she says, every move she makes. If I miss something, help me."
Seamus laughed under his breath. "Even her own daughter can’t read her mind. Your mother really is cruel."
Diane lowered her gaze. "She is. And I spent all this time begging for her attention." Her voice wavered. "What a fool."
Something about her reminded Seamus of himself years ago, when he still chased Andrew’s approval, desperate for him not to disappear for weeks and return drunk like nothing mattered.
It had taken him five years to understand Andrew would never change. It might take Diane hundreds, maybe thousands of years, but at least she had finally taken her first step.
"Yes," he said firmly. "I’ll believe in you."
Her eyes lit up instantly. She smiled so brightly she lifted her hands like a child, unable to hide her joy.
When she realized what she was doing, her face turned red and she jumped to her feet.
"I’ll help Lulu with the orphanage!" she blurted out before hurrying back inside, nearly running.
Seamus laughed quietly. Then a voice beside him made him flinch.
"What a poor girl."
Madeline stood there, shaking her head.
"Can you stop appearing like that?" he sighed, rubbing his chest. "But yeah. She just wants to be loved."
"Love is painful," Madeline said flatly. "It’s better not to feel it at all."
Seamus froze. There was sadness in her eyes, familiar and heavy. He had seen it before, whenever she mourned something she never spoke about.
Was it the future?
"Is it that bad?" he asked quietly.
She groaned and rolled her eyes. "Stop with the future talk. More importantly, you said we’d have sex later. When is it later?"
He grinned. "You can see the future. You should already know."
She pinched the back of his hand. "Ugh. Just come to your room before Fleur arrives."
Seamus laughed and followed her inside.