Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 260

Chapter 260

Chapter 260

IVORY

“We need to move faster!” I shouted to Aria, releasing another pheromone vial toward plants even closer to the crystal. “The darts are saturating the space! Even the shields won’t protect us if there are too many!”

More darts filled the air. I could hear them hitting the walls, the spikes, the lava barrier. Some were hitting the shields around me with soft impacts that made the golden light flare brighter. The blessing was holding but I could feel it draining my energy faster with each deflection.

Aria was pulling herself along vines with desperate speed, her movements becoming less controlled as oxygen deprivation affected her coordination. A dart grazed her leg—actually penetrated her clothes before the shields around her flared and pushed it away. Close. Too close.

We grabbed new vines, pulled harder, moved faster despite knowing that speed increased our oxygen consumption and made the air problem worse. But staying in the dart-saturated zone would kill us just as surely as suffocation.

The crystal was close now. Maybe twenty feet away. The winged creature was uncurling from around its barrier, its body extending to full length, its wings beginning to spread.

Fifteen feet. Ten. The darts were so thick in the air around us that I could barely see the crystal through the swarm of projectiles. The shields were flaring constantly, golden light blazing around both of us as the blessing worked overtime to keep us alive.

Five feet. The creature’s wings were fully extended now, spanning the width of the chamber, creating a living barrier between us and the crystal.

Then we were there. Floating in front of the clear barrier that protected the violet star-shaped fragment. The darts were still flying but less densely here-the creature’s body was blocking many of them, its scales deflecting projectiles that would have hit us.

And the creature was looking at us with those glowing violet eyes, its expression unreadable but its intent clear: we’d reached the crystal, but claiming it would require more than just navigation.

ARIA

The winged creature uncurled completely from around the crystal barrier, its body easily

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thirty feet long, covered in those shifting-color scales that made my eyes water if I looked at them too long. Its wings spanned the entire width of the chamber when fully extended, each wing membrane showing intricate patterns that might have been beautiful if they weren’t attached to something so clearly dangerous.

But it didn’t attack. Just watched us with eyes that glowed the same violet color as the crystal fragment it was guarding, its massive head tilting slightly as if considering what we were and whether we posed a threat.

The poison darts were still flying around us, though fewer were getting through now that the creature’s body was blocking many of them. The shields continued to flare intermittently as projectiles found their way past the creature’s bulk, the golden light pulsing in rhythm with my increasingly labored breathing.

The air was so thin now that each breath felt insufficient. My vision was darkening at the edges, my thoughts becoming sluggish, my body screaming for oxygen that didn’t exist in concentrations high enough to sustain me much longer.

“Child of the moon,” the creature said, and despite everything I felt a jolt of surprise that it could speak. Another guardian with intelligence beyond animal instinct. Another test that would go beyond simple combat.

Its voice was different from the serpents or the pit creatures. Clearer, more articulated, carrying harmonics that suggested it had been designed for communication rather than adapted to it over time.

“You have navigated the obstacles,” it continued, those violet eyes fixed on me specifically rather than on both of us. “Proven your determination through suffering. Demonstrated capability beyond what most possess. But claiming this fragment requires more than persistence. Requires sacrifice that you may not be willing to make.”

My heart sank. Another impossible choice. Another trial designed to exploit weakness or force betrayal. I’d faced my inadequacy, chosen mission over individual rescue, survived creatures and climbing and zero-gravity navigation. What more could they demand?

“What sacrifice?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady despite my lungs screaming for more air than existed in this chamber. Despite the dizziness making it hard to orient myself even with the creature’s bulk providing a visual reference point.

The creature’s wings shifted slightly, creating air currents that pushed us gently away from the barrier. Not aggressively-just enough to establish distance, to remind us that it controlled this

space.

“One of you must remain,” it said, each word measured and deliberate. “Anchored here in this chamber. Serving as the new guardian until the next Hunt, until the next competitors reach

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