Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 535

Chapter 535

KILLIAN

''Gravity," Jordan said, with the tone of someone filing this explanation for later review.

"And physics," Kael said.

"Physics," Jordan said.

"Fundamental forces," Kael said. "This was a fundamental forces situation."

The garden was quiet for a moment.

My wolf said: *They are enjoying this tremendously.*

I was aware, I said.

*You should also be enjoying this,* my wolf said. *Because it means they're treating you like you're here.*

I processed this.

The wolf was right.

Jordan making the Aaryon and Dante reference — or rather, not making it, but clearly thinking it — and Ivory extending the information about the subplot, and the two of them standing at the edge of the path doing the thing where they communicated in expressions rather than words — this was not the behavior of people who were treating me as an outsider to be managed. This was the behavior of people who'd incorporated me into the scene they were responding to.

Not inner circle. Not the easy warmth of people who'd chosen each other over decades. But something. A beginning of something.

The footsteps came from the main path direction.

Nina and Aria arrived at roughly the same moment, from slightly different angles, both of them having apparently been nearby and been drawn by the activity of people in the garden at this hour.

Aria looked at the four of us. At me and Kael standing at a distance that communicated recent proximity. At Ivory and Jordan at the edge of the path with their expressions.

She looked confused.

Nina did not look confused.

Nina looked at the scene with the rapid assessment of someone who'd just received information and had immediately understood all of its components and their implications. A smile was happening on her face. Not the full smile — the one that existed before the full smile, the specific precursor that meant the full smile was coming.

"Nina," Kael said.

"Yes," Nina said.

"Nothing happened," Kael said.

"I see that," Nina said.

"The path has a root problem," Kael said.

"I'll add it to the maintenance list," Nina said, with the perfect composure of someone contributing to a conversation about path maintenance while the expression on her face was doing something entirely different.

Aria looked at me.

"There was a root," I said, because I'd established this as the factual account and was maintaining it.

"On the path," Kael said.

"I tripped," I said.

Aria looked at Ivory and Jordan.

Ivory and Jordan had turned toward each other and were having a very quiet very fast conversation that I couldn't fully hear but that had the quality of people discussing something they found significant and needed to coordinate their response to.

"—Aaryon—" Jordan said.

"—exactly what I thought—" Ivory said.

"—the Chapter four moment, do you remember when—" Jordan said.

"—the path was darker too—" Ivory said.

"I can hear you," Kael said.

They stopped.

"We were discussing the path maintenance situation," Jordan said.

"The root specifically," Ivory said.

"It's a hazard," Jordan said.

"Very hazardous," Ivory agreed.

Nina leaned toward Aria and said something quietly. I couldn't hear what she said. Aria's expression went through the journey from confused to understanding to something that she was suppressing with the specific composure I'd watched her develop over the past days.

"Aria," Kael said, with the tone of someone hoping for an ally.

"I'm staying out of it," Aria said.

"It's nothing," Kael said.

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