Page 205 of The Other Omega

My stomach tightened as I thought of Lady Eleanor holding my face and insisting she knew me.

“So her parents are my mum’s and my father’s doubles? Is that why there’s another Ivy and another Nora?”

Alaric nodded.

“So… where is she? Why did this happen to us? Does that mean she’s with Ivy and Nora? Did we just swap places?”

Alaric’s face softened. “No, my heart. Lady Elowen is still in this world. She has been detained by House Vaelor.”

“Detained?” I looked around at the others. “What do you mean, detained?”

“She has been accused of high treason and kidnapping⁠—”

“I don’t understand.” I shook my head. “My double is a criminal? What did she do?”

“She arranged for you to be brought here, Elowen. To escape our mating, she conspired with others to have you take her place in this world.”

I stared at him, trying to understand what he’d just told me.

“So…” My voice broke. “She… what? Stole me?”

“Yes.”

I let go of Leon’s hand, got up and started pacing in front of the sofas.

“Because… what? She didn’t want to get married? Is that it?”

“She wished to escape our mating. That is correct.”

“So she stole me?” I turned back to them. “What was she expecting? That I’d magically remember her whole life? There was no way I could have taken her place.”

One of my mates said my name, but I could barely hear him.

“Oh, my God. My sisters must be devastated, wondering what happened to me. Did she know I had sisters? Did she know what it would do to them? What it would do to me? What if I hadn’t met you?”

I’d spent so long wondering how it had happened. I’d thought something must have gone wrong, something nobody could explain or put right. Instead, someone had chosen to do this.

“They intended for the Hart family to have you declared mentally unwell and admitted to an institution,” Lucien said.

I stopped pacing. “What?” I walked over to him. “So she had a plan for me afterwards? I mean, how could she? How did she even do it? How did she get me here?”

I began pacing again. “You know what? I don’t want to hear her excuses. Just tell me how she did it. How did she bring me here?”

“Her accomplices gave her an apparatus. She used it to bring you into her bedroom, then left the manor with their help.”

“Who helped her?” I looked between him and Alaric. “Her parents?”

“No, my darling. They knew nothing of the plan. A few servants were involved, along with…”

He stopped, and my heart was beating so hard I could feel it in my neck.

“Who else?”

“Mireya.”

My knees gave way, but Alaric caught me before I hit the floor.

“She knew? She knew I was telling the truth the whole time?”