Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 252

Chapter 252

Chapter 252

ARIA

I collapsed against the chamber wall, every breath sending sharp pain through my broken ribs, my reopened wound bleeding freely enough that I could feel it soaking through the bandages Ivory had applied what felt like a lifetime ago. The chest wounds from the guardian’s claws burned with each movement, the torn flesh pulling in ways that suggested the damage was deeper than just surface lacerations.

But I was alive. Had made it out of the pit. Had survived the guardian and the climb and the creatures that used to be human.

Ivory knelt beside me, her hands already moving with professional efficiency, assessing my injuries with the clinical detachment that came from years of medical training. Her injured arm was clearly bothering her-I could see her wince when she moved it—but she didn’t let it slow her examination.

“The chest wounds are deep,” she said, her voice tight. “The ribs are definitely broken-I can feel them grinding when you breathe. And the abdominal wound has completely reopened. My stitching is gone.”

“I noticed,” I managed to say, trying for humor and probably failing. “The guardian was… enthusiastic.”

“Guardian?” Ivory’s eyes sharpened. “What happened down there? What did you fight?”

I told her. About the creatures, about the speaking one that had offered me a choice, about the massive transformed human that had served as the trial’s test. About how the moonlight had exploded from my hands when I’d needed it most, driving back something that should have killed me.

Ivory listened without interrupting, her expression becoming more troubled with each detail. When I finished, she was quiet for a long moment.

“The fragments are changing you,” she finally said. “Giving you access to capabilities you don’t know how to control yet. That’s dangerous, Aria. Moon magic isn’t something you can just improvise with. It requires training, understanding, control that comes from years of practice.”

“I don’t have years,” I pointed out. “I have less than ten hours to complete three more trials. So I’ll have to learn as I go.”

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“That’s how people die,” Ivory said bluntly. “Using power they don’t understand, pushing past their limits, burning themselves out from the inside.”

“Then I’ll die trying,” I said, meeting her eyes. “Because the alternative is giving up. And I’ve come too far, survived too much, to quit now.”

Ivory’s jaw tightened but she didn’t argue. Just returned her attention to my wounds, applying what limited medical supplies she had left, doing what she could with bandages and pressure and the knowledge that proper treatment would have to wait until we escaped these caves.

“We need to move soon,” she said as she worked. “The exit tunnel is right there-” she gestured to the glowing passage, “—and maybe the trial provides medical assistance on the other side. Maybe there’s something that can actually treat these injuries instead of just slowing the bleeding.”

alk,” I admitted, hating how weak it sounded. “Can barely breathe. My ribs shift every y to move and the pain is-” I cut off, not wanting to describe just how overwhelming in was becoming.

“Then I’ll carry you,” Ivory said, as if this was obvious. “Again. Like the first trial. You’re lighter than you should be anyway-probably from blood loss and not eating enough during this nightmare.”

“You’re injured too,” I protested. “Your arm—”

“Is functional enough to carry you,” Ivory interrupted. “Stop arguing and save your energy. We’re leaving in two minutes whether you think you can move or not.”

I wanted to argue more. Wanted to insist I could manage on my own, that I didn’t need to be carried like dead weight again. But the truth was obvious to both of us-I couldn’t walk more than a few steps without collapsing. Couldn’t navigate whatever challenges the third trial contained. Couldn’t do anything except try not to die while Ivory did the actual work.

Just like everyone had always said. Inadequate. A burden. The weakness that compromised otherwise strong partnerships.

“Stop it,” Ivory said sharply, apparently reading my expression. “I can see you spiraling into self-flagellation. Don’t. You survived a trial in a pit full of corpses and creatures that would have killed most competitors. You fought a transformed human twice your size and won. You climbed out when the easy choice was giving up and becoming one of those things. That’s not inadequacy. That’s strength in its own right.”

Her words should have been comforting. Should have countered the negative self-talk that was becoming automatic. But all I could think was that none of it would have mattered if she hadn’t reached the center chamber, if she hadn’t claimed the second fragment, if she hadn’t

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been strong enough to complete her trial while I’d been stuck in the pit.

“Thank you,” I said instead of voicing those thoughts. “For not leaving me. For completing the trial. For-”

“Don’t,” Ivory interrupted again. “Don’t thank me for doing what partners do. Save the gratitude for after we’ve survived all five trials and escaped these caves alive.”

She helped me stand, supporting my weight, preparing to position me for carrying. That’s when we heard them.

Footsteps led bac

le sets. Moving fast. Coming from the tunnel I’d emerged from-the one that

hch system.

turning toward the sound. And into the chamber poured the creatures from

the few I’d seen during my trial. Dozens of them. Maybe more. Their gray skin ing in the crystal light, their too-long limbs giving them speed and reach that was fying to watch. Their bioluminescent eyes glowing with that sickly green color that arked them as something other than human.

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