26. TWENTY-FIVE

TWENTY-FIVE

" I asked you a question, Davina."

Davina remained with eyes widened and lips gaped. After four months, Ron was finally directing a word to her.

"Are you just going to stand there, staring? What do you think you're doing?" Ron asked sharply.

No, she couldn't give in to what she was feeling. She had to let him go. It would be considered a crime of infidelity to Isaiah if she were to continue feeling those types of emotions for Ron.

She would not give in to the weakness of her heart, so she pulled one of her masks on.

"I'm fighting a war that I intend to win. What are you doing?" Davina questioned while crossing her arms.

Her heart beat rapidly inside of her chest. Hopefully, it wouldn't explode right there in front of him.

Davina had been nothing but cruel since that night that they parted ways and she had to admit that she deserved his resentment all these months. However, she hoped that his heartbreak would be easier to bear if he hated her. Yet seeing her succeed at turning his love into contempt pained her deeply.

"You plan to win a war by giving yourself over to someone else? How does that even work?" Ron asked with his nostrils flaring.

Ron walked past the pile of splinters by the door and began to near her. Davina stepped away from him, not removing the fake anger from her stare; she wished she could tell him how much she missed him.

His sadness and despair bled onto his face. His eyes were glossy with their usual dark circles surrounding them and an unhealthy pale color covered his face. It was her fault he was like this.

"I don't expect you to understand. After all, that is why I left you anyway," she spat. Her words were sharp as a knife, and she noticed the way his shoulders slumped even more.

Ron shook his head as he swiftly walked and stood right in front of her.

"This isn't you," he said softly. He reached for her face as his eyes begged for her to give up her facade. Davina hated how she was still so easily able to read the language in his gaze.

"You don't know me. You don't know who I am, so you don't get to say that," Davina said. His thumb softly stroked her cheek, she wouldn't walk away just yet. She would keep this last memory of his beautiful and comforting touch safely locked inside her soul.

"Don't do this. Don't do this to us." Ron's gray-flecked eyes stared deeply into her own.

Isaiah deserved her loyalty even though she was incapable of giving him her true affection. No matter how much she yearned for another chance with the youngest Levina, she had to let him go.

Ron deserved to be with someone who could pick up the bits of his heart and piece them back together. A heart that she had torn. One that would be broken even more if he continued to stand in front of her in the next few minutes.

Ron's hand reached for hers.

No.

Davina instantly pulled at her fire. As her flames met his hand, his lightning crackled throughout the room. A strike of his power hit the sofa beside them, causing the cushions to sizzle and burn. Smoke puffed up into little clouds.

His expression was wild, she was able to see the realization of betrayal that passed through his mind.

"I don't want you anymore," Davina asserted.

"I don't know what's going on in that pretty little head of yours but this isn't you, and you know it. He's lying to you, Davina. He's always wanted you, I've seen the way he would look at you. He's manipulating you for his own gain," Ron argued.

"What's the difference between him and I? My only need for him is to win the people's support." A small smirk played over her lips.

Ron sighed and shook his head.

"You're not my Vivi," he whispered.

His gaze traveled across her face. She could see him fighting to understand where all her words were coming from. Truthfully, she didn't know either.

Ron was stubborn and he wouldn't give up on their relationship if she didn't give him a reason to. As much as she wished to be able to touch him, embrace him, and share many sweet moments with him, it was too late.

"I stopped being yours long ago."

"Davina—"

"Live your life, Ron, far away from mine because believe me when I tell you that I want nothing to do with you."

Davina rolled her eyes as she pushed him aside with her shoulder and walked past him, her breathing worse as she left the common room than when she had first entered.