Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 212

Chapter 212

ARIA

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Finished

I stopped walking, my brain struggling to process her tone. The hostility in it. The complete absence of relief or partnership spirit.

“Ivory?” I said uncertainly. “Are you-are you alright? Did something happen during the placement?”

She finally looked up then. And the expression on her face made my blood freeze more effectively than the stream water had.

Pure hatred. Undisguised, burning hatred that transformed her features into something almost unrecognizable.

“Did you really think we’d work together?” she asked, her voice dripping with contempt. “Did you honestly believe I’d partner with you? After everything you’ve done?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, taking an involuntary step back. “We were assigned as partners. The Hunt requires-”

“You took my place,” Ivory interrupted, standing slowly, her knife still in her hand. “You took everything that should have been mine. The Luna position. Kael’s bond. The future I was supposed to have. And you did it through manipulation and political convenience.”

“I didn’t—” I started, but she cut me off.

“You stole the love of my life,” she continued, advancing toward me with deliberate steps. “Kael was mine. We had history. Connection. Years of building toward something that was supposed to culminate in us being bonded, being Alpha and Luna together. And you just swooped in at exactly the right moment and took it all.”

“That’s not what happened,” I protested, backing away as she continued her approach. “The curse needed to be broken. The bond was necessary for-”

“You’re the reason I lost my memories,” Ivory said, and now her voice was rising, becoming sharper, more vicious. “If you hadn’t bonded with Kael, if the curse hadn’t been broken the way it was, I would still have my memories of those three years. I would remember everything we were to each other. But you destroyed that. Destroyed us. And for what? So you could play at being Luna while being completely inadequate for the position?”

I wanted to argue. Wanted to defend myself against accusations that were unfair and based on circumstances beyond my control. But the knife in her and and the hatred in her eyes made words stick in my throat.

“I should have let them execute you,” Ivory continued, her voice dropping to something almost conversational, which somehow made it more terrifying. “Back then, when you were accused of attacking me. When the noose was already around your neck. I could have kept quiet. Could have let justice take its course. You’d be dead, and Kael would be free to bond with someone actually suitable for the position.”

“Ivory, please,” I managed, my back hitting a tree. “This n’t you. Something’s wrong. You saved my life. You set that trap to catch the real attacker. You wouldn’t-”

“But I can rectify my mistakes now,” Ivory said, as if I hadn’t spoken. “The Hunt always has accidents. People

1/2

15:03 wed,

Chapter 212

67%

Finished

too weak to compete getting injured. Getting lost. Not taking it back. It happens. And no one will question it. No one will care that the inadequate Luna who only got in through nepotism didn’t survive her first challenge.”

She lunged.

The attack was so sudden, so completely unexpected, that I barely managed to raise my arms in defense. Her knife slashed toward my throat and I twisted desperately, feeling the blade catch my shoulder instead.

Pain exploded through my arm. Hot, sharp, overwhelming pain that made my vision blur. But survival instinct kicked in and I shoved at her with my good arm trying to create distance, trying to get away from the knife that was coming at me again.

“Stop!” I screamed. “Ivory, stop! This isn’t the Hunt! This isn’t-”

But she didn’t stop. Came at me again with single-minded focus, her movements precise and deadly in ways that spoke to actual training in combat. She wasn’t just threatening. She was genuinely trying to kill me.

I dodged, stumbled, felt the knife graze my ribs. Not deep-my desperate movement had turned what should have been a killing blow into a glancing cut-buenough that blood was flowing freely now, soaking through my already wet clothes.

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