Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 563

Chapter 563

HALE

"No," Malen said. "There isn't."

"Which is why we couldn't get rid of her," I said. "Every leverage point we'd normally use — pain, fear, the safety of people she cared about — she'd already accounted for. She'd already decided they weren't going to be the deciding factor."

"Yes," Malen said.

I stood up.

Walked back to the table.

Sat down properly, in the chair that was the right chair for what came next, which was a different kind of thinking from what the floor was for.

"The failsafe," I said. "If we activate the root at the full moon again—"

"The root activation doesn't trigger the failsafe," Malen said. "The failsafe only activates on complete removal. As long as the root exists and is accessible, the curse is still technically active, and the failsafe is dormant."

"So every time we activate the root," I said, "we prevent them from attempting the full removal. We keep the root alive. We keep the curse alive. And the failsafe stays dormant."

"Yes," Malen said.

"They think the integration is the solution," I said. "They think full bond integration protects against the root activation."

"It does," Malen said. "That's accurate. A fully integrated bond would close the channel we use for the activation."

"Then let them integrate," I said.

Malen looked at me.

"If the bond integrates fully," I said, "what happens to the root?"

"It becomes inaccessible through the bond channel," Malen said. "But it doesn't disappear. It exists in Kael's architecture regardless of the bond's state. The channel is just how we activate it remotely."

"But they don't know that," I said. "They think full integration removes the threat. They'll think they've won."

"Yes," Malen said, slowly, the intelligence catching up to where I was going.

"And then," I said, "they'll try to remove the root completely. Because even after integration, Ivory will know the root is still there. She'll push for the full removal. She'll push for it with the specific determination of someone who's been planning for this outcome for years and won't leave the job unfinished."

"And when they attempt the full removal," Malen said.

"The failsafe activates," I said. "And Ivory dies."

The fire.

"We don't need to kill Ivory," I said. "We just need to let Ivory do what Ivory has already decided to do."

Malen was quiet for a very long moment.

"They'll be devastated," I said. "Kael. The inner circle. They'll have thought they won. They'll have thought the curse was ending, the root was gone, the pack was safe." I looked at the fire. "And then Ivory will be dead and Kael will have lost the person he built everything with and the pack that held together through three years of the curse will be—"

"Broken," Malen said.

"Shadowmere has never broken under external pressure," I said. "But internal loss. The right internal loss at the wrong moment."

"They don't know about the failsafe," Malen said. "None of them."

"Except Ivory," I said.

"Except Ivory," Malen confirmed.

"Who has decided," I said, "that it's an acceptable cost."

"Yes," Malen said.

"Let it pass," I said. "No activation. Let them think the integration is working."

"They'll be encouraged," Malen said.

"Good," I said. "Let them be encouraged. Encouraged people take risks. Encouraged people attempt things they might otherwise approach more cautiously." I looked at my hands. "Let Ivory decide the timing is right. Let her push for the full removal."

"She will," Malen said.

"I know she will," I said. "Because she's been planning it for four years and she's not afraid of the outcome and she's decided it's the right cost." I stood up. "She's decided to die for them. We're just going to let her."

The fire burned.

Outside, the network was already reorganizing around two empty points. The coven would adjust. The casting structure would hold even with Vela gone. The specific operation we'd spent years building had just pivoted, not collapsed.

Sixty-nine attempts.

And the answer had been sitting in the curse's own architecture the whole time.

We didn't need to kill Ivory.

We just needed to let her save the people she loved.

Malen left.

I stayed with the fire.

Somewhere in Shadowmere, the inner circle was preparing for a war we were going to let them win. The luna was building a mindlink. Kael was integrating a bond. And Ivory, who had survived sixty-nine attempts because she'd already made peace with dying, was working toward the ending she'd chosen four years ago.

*Game on,* she'd said.

Yes, I thought.

Game on.