Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 230

Chapter 230

Chapter 230

Chapter 230

IVORY

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Aryada studied me for a long moment, her expression unreadable. Then she nodded once, a gesture that could have meant anything.

“I see,” she said quietly. “You’ve made your choice.”

“I’ve chosen not to be part of murder,” I repeated. “However you want to frame that is up to you.”

“Very well,” Aryada said. “Then I’ll proceed without your cooperation. But understand, Ivory -your choice has consequences. By protecting Aria, you’re making yourself an obstacle to what needs to happen. And obstacles can be removed just as easily as primary targets.”

The threat was clear. If I continued protecting Afia, Aryada would view me as an enemy rather than an ally. Would make my survival as uncertain as Aria’s.

I should have been intimidated. Should have reconsidered my position. But all I felt at the

moment was anger.

Anger that Aryada thought she could manipulate me into becoming complicit in murder. Anger that she believed I’d sacrifice my principles for position and power.

“Do what you need to do,” I said, my voice hard. But you’ll have to go through me to get to Aria. And I’m much more harder to kill than you seem to think.”

Aryada’s expression finally shifted. Something like respect passed across her face, mixed with frustration and calculation. Like she was reassessing me.

“We’ll see,” she said finally. “We’ll see if your principles survive when the cost becomes high enough.”

She turned and left without another word, the tent flap falling closed behind her silently

I sat there in the sudden silence, my partially-stiched arm still bleeding slightly, my body aching from accumulated injuries, my mind racing with the implications of what had just happened.

I’d just defied an elder. Had refused to participate in her plans. Had essentially declared myself an enemy to someone who had the power to make my life extremely difficult if not outright end it.

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Chapter 230

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But I’d also maintained my integrity. Had refused to compromise my principles for political gain. Had chosen to protect Aria despite having very reason to let her die.

The question was whether that choice would kill us both.

ARIA

I was floating in darkness, but it wasn’t the terrifying void that came with certain death, but this one was different, less intense. I could feel my body, could sense the pain but it was like background noise and wasn’t the real thing.

Then the darkness shifted for a moment as I could see a subtle move which made me realize that I wasn’t alone.

“Ivory?!” I called out thinking she was in here with me as well, was this another hunt? There was no response but all of a sudden Light bloomed before me, and It coalesced into a figure- who looked feminine, tall and graceful, but I couldn’t see her face.

Every time I tried to focus on her face to see if i could get a glimpse of it, the light intensified, obscuring them.

“Hello, child,” the being said, and her voice vibrated in my bones, and echoed in chest,

my felt like it was speaking directly to it.

I tried to speak, tried to ask who she was or where I was or if I was dead, but no words came out. My mouth moved but i couldn’t speak. like had forgotten basic language.

The being seemed to understand anyway. “You’re not dead,” she said, sounding amused by her tone. “Though you came very close. Stabbed, strangled, blood loss, poisoning yourself with nightshade-you’ve been quite busy destroying your body over the past day.”

“I didn’t have much choice,” I managed to say, my voice sounding strange and distant even to

my own ears.

“The Hunt was trying to kill me. Or Aryada was. I’m still not entirely clear on which.”

“Both,” the being said simply. “The Hunt creates the dangers. Aryada ensured you faced the worst of them. She wanted you eliminated, Aria Wanted you to die in an ‘accident’ that would remove you from a position she believes you don’t deserve.”

The confirmation of what I’d suspected didn’t hurt as much as it should have. Maybe because I’d already accepted my own inadequacy.

“She’s right,” I said quietly. “I don’t deserve it. I’m not strong enough, not capable enough, not anything enough. I’m just barely surviving through luck and other people’s sacrifices.”

“Is that what you think?” the being asked, and now her tone carried something that might

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