Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 484

Chapter 484

Chapter 484

Chapter 484

JORDAN

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“For the purposes of the bunker situation,” I said, “I am choosing to be a different person. One who encountered this information after a significant personal moment with the security chief of Shadowmere and decided that the appropriate course of action was to let the healer handle it when she remembers.”

Nina looked at me for a long moment.

“I’m going to tell Ivory when she’s recovered,” she said. “Properly. Not let her remember it on her own. Tell her directly, so she can handle it in a controlled way.”

“Yes,” I said. “That’s better. That’s the correct approach.”

“When she’s recovered,” Nina said.

“When she’s recovered,” I agreed. “In a few days. Maybe a week.”

“Not longer than a week,” Nina said. “It shouldn’t sit longer than a week.”

“A week is reasonable,” I said.

“And in the meantime,” Nina said, “nobody mentions the bunker.”

“Nobody mentions the bunker,” I agreed.

She looked at me.

I looked at her.

“Jordan,” she said.

“Yes,” I said.

“If Ivory asks,” she said.

“We were occupied,” I said.

“With calamities,” she said.

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“With calamities,” I confirmed.

“Since the curse broke,” she said.

“Literally every week,” I said.

“At what point,” she said.

“Should the bunker have come up,” I finished.

We looked at each other.

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The laugh came back. The quieter version, warmer, the one that had the nine months in it — the months and the floor outside Kael’s office and the walkie-talkies and the vine that had decided it liked me and the elder council meeting and all of it settling into something that was ours specifically, the specific humor of two people who’d been in something together and had come out the other side and were lying in Nina’s bed in the security wing while Ivory was probably already working through her mental accounting toward the bunker realization.

“She’s going to find out,” I said.

“She’s going to be furious,” Nina said.

“With everyone,” I said.

“Equally,” Nina said. “Which is the best possible outcome. Evenly distributed fury.”

“Kael’s hands,” I said.

“His hands have been going through things all week,” Nina said.

“The mahogany was very nice wood,” I said.

“It was,” Nina said.

“Morrison’s face,” I said.

“Yes,” Nina said.

We were quiet for a moment. The warmth of the room, the specific warmth of someone else’s presence after nine months of not having the time. The ceiling of Nina’s quarters, which I was now familiar with in a way I hadn’t been this morning.

“Thank Aria,” I said.

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“I am going to thank Aria,” Nina said. “After the bunker situation is handled.”

“After the bunker situation is handled,” I agreed.

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“And not before,” she said. “Because thanking her before and then the bunker coming up would be-”

“Awkward,” I said.

“Deeply,” she said.

“Also,” I said.

“Yes,” she said.

“We should probably tell Elite,” I said. “About the bunker. So she knows too. Before Ivory tells her and it becomes a full summit.”

Nina was quiet for a moment.

“Elite already knows,” Nina said.

“Elite knows everything,” I said.

“Elite probably remembered,” Nina said, “approximately two days into Aria’s residency and has been waiting for someone else to remember before bringing it up.”

I stared at the ceiling.

“She’s been waiting,” I said.

“For eight months,” Nina said.

“She’s been waiting for eight months,” I said.

“For one of us to mention the bunker,” Nina said.

“And nobody did,” I said.

“And nobody did,” Nina confirmed.

“Elite,” I said.

“Is also very busy,” Nina said.

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“She’s been waiting for eight months,” I said, “and just not saying anything.”

“That’s very Elite,” Nina said.

“That’s extremely Elite,” I said.

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“She’s probably written a note somewhere,” Nina said. “For the file. Under Aria. ‘Bunker situation unaddressed. Awaiting personnel acknowledgment.”

“With a date,” I said.

“From approximately day three,” Nina said.

I closed my eyes.

“We are,” I said, “genuinely bad at this.”

“We’re very good at most of it,” Nina said. “We’re bad at the specific category of things that require us to say out loud that we were wrong about a person we were wrong about.”

“The bunker is the physical manifestation,” I said, “of being wrong about Aria.”

“It was built to protect against exactly what she is,” Nina said. “Before we knew who she was. Before we understood what she was.” A pause. “And then we understood and we should have updated the bunker and we didn’t because updating the bunker meant acknowledging that the thing it was built to protect against was also the thing that saved us.”

“Ivory’s going to write a very long document about this,” I said.

“With multiple sections,” Nina said.

“And color tabs,” I said.

“Red,” Nina said.

“Definitely red,” I said.

We looked at the ceiling.

“I’m glad she stayed,” Nina said, and this was the direct version, the one that came out when she’d decided something was worth saying plainly. “Aria. I’m glad she stayed and I’m glad she held the border and I’m glad she made Kael apologize and I’m glad she exists in this pack.”

“Yes,” I said.

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“Even though we built a bunker that would hurt her,” she said.

“Despite that,” I said.

“We’re going to fix it,” she said.

“After Ivory handles it,” I said.

“After Ivory handles it,” she agreed.

“In the meantime,” I said.

“In the meantime,” she said, “nobody mentions the bunker and we enjoy the break.”

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