Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 293

Chapter 293

Chapter 293

ARIA

Nina sat behind her desk, her expression professionally neutral in ways that made it impossible to read what she was thinking. And standing in the corner, observing with the kind of stillness that suggested they’d been there long enough to become part of the furniture: Lunaris. One of the Ghost Council members, her presence transforming this from a routine security interview into something far more significant.

My stomach clenched. Whatever happened in this room would be reported directly to the Council. Would be used to determine not just my security status but potentially my entire future in Shadowmere.

“Thank you for coming, Luna Aria,” Nina said, gesturing to the chair across from her desk. “Please, sit.”

I sat, my guard positioning herself by the door. I’d brought the pages I’d written this morning -everything I could remember about my visit to Damon, laid out in as much detail as I could provide. I placed them on Nina’s desk without being asked.

“I wrote down everything I could remember,” I said. “About the visit. What we discussed. Every detail I thought might be relevant.”

Nina picked up the pages, scanning them quickly with the kind of speed that suggested she could process information faster than most people. Lunaris moved closer, reading over Nina’s shoulder with interest that made my skin prickle with awareness of how much power was in this small room.

“This is thorough,” Nina said after a moment. “More thorough than I expected, honestly. But I still need to ask questions. Need to hear you answer them directly rather than just reading your account. You understand?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Good.” Nina set the pages aside and pulled out a fresh notebook. “Let’s start with the basics. When exactly did you visit the neutral prison chambers to see Damon Blackwood?”

I gave her the date. Counted back in my head to be sure. “It was six days after my 1. ed execution. Six days after Kael and I bonded to break the curse.”

Nina made a note. “And how did this visit come about? Who initiated contact?”

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“Damon sent me a note,” I said. “Through-” I stopped, realizing I didn’t actually know how the note had been delivered. It had just appeared in my chambers one morning, folded and sealed with Blackwood’s mark. “I don’t know how he got it to me. I found it in my quarters.”

“You found a note from a prisoner in your private chambers and you didn’t report it?” Nina’s voice remained neutral but I heard the implication clearly. “Didn’t think that might be a security concern?”

“I should have,” I admitted. “I know that now. But at the time I was-I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was overwhelmed and confused and I wanted answers about why he’d rejected me. The note said he wanted to see me, that he could explain things, and I just—I went.”

“What did the note say exactly?” Lunaris spoke for the first time, her voice carrying that melodic quality all the elders possessed.

I closed my eyes, trying to remember. “It said-‘I know you must have questions. I can give you the answers you deserve. Come to the neutral prison chambers and ask for me. I’ll tell the guards to expect you.’ Something like that. The exact wording was slightly different but that was the essence.”

“And you went alone?” Nina asked.

“Yes.”

“Did you

“No.”

tell

anyone where you were going?”

“Did Alpha Kael know about this visit?”

I hesitated, knowing this was where things got worse. “He’d told me explicitly not to go see Damon. Said it wasn’t safe, that Damon was dangerous, that I needed to stay away from him. But I-I went anyway.”

“So you deliberately disobeyed a direct order from your Alpha,” Nina said, writing this down. “Deliberately went against advice that was given for your safety and the pack’s security.”

“Yes,” I said, the word tasting like ash.

“Why?” Lunaris asked. “Why was getting answers from Damon more important than following your Alpha’s guidance?”

I struggled to find words that would make it make sense. “Because I needed to understand. Damon had been my mate, my future, everything I’d built my life around. And he rejected me so publicly, so cruelly, and I couldn’t—I couldn’t move forward without knowing why. Without

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hearing him explain what I’d done wrong, what had made me so inadequate that choosing someone else was worth humiliating me in front of the entire pack.”

“So this was about your ego,” Nina said. “About needing validation from someone who’d already proven he didn’t value you.”

“It wasn’t about ego,” I protested, then stopped. “Or maybe it was. Maybe everything I did was about trying to prove I wasn’t as worthless as I felt. I don’t know anymore. I just know that at the time, getting answers from Damon felt necessary in ways I couldn’t explain rationally.”

Nina made more notes. “Walk me through the visit. What happened when you arrived at the neutral prison?”

I described it as accurately as I could remember. The guards who’d been expecting me. The visitor’s room where Damon had been brought. The conversation we’d had, his explanations about why Sera was better suited to be Luna, why I’d never been good enough, why my inadequacy had been so obvious that choosing someone else had been simple.

“He said I was too soft,” I continued, my voice becoming quieter as I relived the conversation. “Too emotional. Too concerned with being liked rather than being respected. He said Sera understood what it took to lead, understood that sometimes you had to make hard choices that hurt people. That I would have been a liability as Luna because I couldn’t set aside my feelings to do what needed to be done.”

“And how did you respond to this?” Lunaris asked.

“I tried to argue,” I said. “Tried to defend myself. But everything he said-it resonated with fears I’d already been carrying. It confirmed what I’d suspected about myself. That I was inadequate. That I’d always be inadequate. That no amount of trying was going to change the fundamental truth of who I was.”

“Did you discuss Shadowmere during this conversation?” Nina asked, her pen poised over the notebook. “Pack business? Security matters? Anything about Alpha Kael or pack operations?”

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