Chapter 414: Tough Negotiator

After guiding Mina and Olivia to the tent they set up, Cylus went to Vanya's room only to find the woman sitting on the edge of her bed. She looked deep in thought and he could only blame himself for what was going on in her mind. He sat next to her, moving his body in close so that she would look up at him instead of down at the ground.

Cylus decided that the best way to get through to Vanya was not to blame her for her actions. In fact, he saw it as normal, but he wanted her to understand that when he made a choice, he stuck with it, especially when it came to a person he liked.

"I'm sorry, Vanya whispered, but Cylus hushed her.

"No; I am sorry. I made you feel insecure. What happened back there was my fault, but you have to understand that Mina is not how you would expect." Cylus knew that just from looking at Mina, it was easy to get the wrong impression; particularly when she dressed up.

"Then why is she here? If she is not interested in you, why would she have agreed to come?"

"It is specifically because she is not interested in me that she agreed to come." Cylus pulled Vanya into his lap before finishing his statement. "Look, I won't pretend that she means nothing to me, because I think that lie would be unfair to you, but you are the woman I am with." Vanya shook her head, unwilling to believe the man on whom she was sitting.

"I can tell you still like her." Cylus sighed heavily, realizing he was going to have to be more honest than he wanted to be to get through to the woman.

"Vanya, I am going to tell you something you won't like to hear, but you have to. If it were not for Mina, you would still be the woman I am sleeping with and nothing more. She chastised me for not respecting you, and it made me realize that she was right." Cylus' words were curt, but Vanya knew that he was not lying. "I am willing to overlook what happened back in my room because it is my fault you feel the way you do, but if you ever try that again, we are done."

"Because of her?"

"No," Cylus said firmly. "It's because I am asking you to trust me, and you are telling me with your actions that you do not." Vanya nodded her head because there was truth in the statement. "By the way, those pictures that you posted did more harm than good." Vanya studied Cylus' face, unsure what he meant.

"What pictures?" She asked, but Cylus just bore his eyes into hers.

"If you did not post them, then one of your friends may have done it, but now my mother sees you as the same as every other woman in Rouge." Vanya sat up straight.

Madam Rue was notorious for sabotaging Cylus' relationships, and his father even worse. The rumor was that they had a person in mind for their son, but like most people, he wanted to choose for himself. Vanya was aware of this because before she had started sleeping with Cylus, she had never looked in his direction, thinking that she too would face expulsion from her job the same as the others. She had at first tried to date Oric, then Connor, but Cylus presented himself as a better choice between the two and she took him up on his offer.

"Don't worry," Cylus said. "Mina has already agreed not to dispute the rumors that it is her in the photos until we explain things to my parents."

"Why would she do that?" Vanya asked, not trusting that Mina's motives were pure.

"Because that is who she is. Also, I agreed to pay her." Cylus chuckled because Mina was a tough negotiator. Even after having a panic attack, she managed to squeeze thousands out of him, and she made him shorten her contracted period with Rouge as further compensation.

"What if that's what she wants people to think?" Vanya asked, still not convinced that the woman was not looking out for herself by allowing the Rumors to spread, but Cylus just smiled and kissed her forehead.

"You'll have to trust me," he replied, knowing that Vanya would not be able to continue with her baseless claims unless she wanted to offend him. Cylus wrapped the woman into a tighter hug and rolled into the bed with her. "Let's just sleep tonight."

----

Oric stormed over to his room, hoping that whoever had taken his clothing would be standing in front of the doors by now. It was true what Willow had said, it was more plausible that someone he had past dealings with would have taken his clothing to gain his attention, especially since he had stopped interacting with other women in order to impress Mina.

Still shaking from the cold, and probably from a bit of anger, Oric tried the door to his room, and as Willow had guessed, a woman sat at the edge of his bed. She smiled up at him as if she were completely satisfied with her plan's success, but Oric was unimpressed.

"If anything from this room is missing, do you know who the main suspect would be?" The once smiling woman frowned. She had not expected to be rebuked, and she wondered if she should have removed her clothing as she originally planned.

"I didn't take anything, I just wanted to see you." The woman sashayed up to Oric, who dodged her advance.

"I spent the last ten minutes freezing my ass off because of you, and you think I want a hug?" The woman, whose name Oric did not know, flashed a look of anger before she returned the smile to her face.

"I didn't mean to upset you."

"Well, you did. Now leave before I get someone to kick you out." Oric grabbed a bathrobe and slammed the bathroom door behind him, making sure to lock it. He did not know what made him angrier, the fact that Willow was right or the fact that he had let Connor convince him that taking his clothes was Willow's way of trying to get to him.

Oric was no saint, but he knew he was wrong for the way he had approached Willow. He incorrectly assumed that she was trying to make a further mockery of him, and he told himself that he would apologize; even if Willow was unwilling to accept it.

Oric knocked on Willow's room door and was unsurprised that she had already left. The bed had been stripped of all its coverings and he remembered that she planned to sleep outdoors with Mina and Olivia. He layered himself with warmer clothing, and mentally prepared to brave the cold.

----

Inside of the tent, Mina wrapped herself tightly in her quilt. Because she had believed that Olivia had prepared all the accommodations for a camping trip, she had not packed a sleeping bag. Luckily, Willow's tent came with three single person air mattresses that the women were using.

While the tent featured separate sleeping areas, they were separated by removable panels that allowed the women to turn the space into one large sleeping area instead. The women also discovered that the tent featured a skylight. Which allowed them to stare directly at the stars, but it also took away some of the structure's warmth.

Fortunately, Mina had packed large heating pads with her, and they all had one wrapped in the covers as they stared up at the transparent ceiling. The mood inside the tent was somber, with each woman's thoughts weighing heavily on their mind. They did not need to speak to find comfort in one another. Sometimes, having silent support was enough.