Marked By Two

The rot in the roots

​Aria’s POV

​The North Buyer was gone, but the air he left behind was still foul. I felt like I was standing in the middle of a collapsing building, the dust of the Vaelor legacy choking me.

​"What did you mean, Elena?" Noah’s voice was like the crack of a whip. He didn't look at the Grand Luna. He didn't look at the half-eaten dinner. He was staring at Elena, who was huddled on the floor like a broken doll. "No more riddles. What exactly do you know, or are you playing games with me?"

​Elena looked up, her face a mess of mascara and salt. She looked at the Grand Luna, then at Cassian. "It’s not for silver, Noah. It’s for him." She pointed a shaking finger at Cassian. "Julian didn't want to kill you. He wanted to replace you. He needed a Vaelor with the Mark to unlock the ancient strength of the pack's founding Alpha. It was all for selfish reasons."

​

​"Every day it sits on your skin, Aria, it’s drinking from you," Elena rasped, an edge to her voice. "Julian told me. The more it glows, the weaker the host gets. The Grand Luna knew. She didn't sell you to the North for money, she sold you so they could take the power once you were too weak to fight back. She was going to take the power back for herself to stay the Matriarch forever."

​The silence that followed was heavy, suffocating. I looked at the Grand Luna. She didn't deny it. She just smoothed her emerald dress, her expression as cold as a tombstone.

​"Power belongs to those who know how to use it," the Grand Luna said, her voice devoid of any motherly warmth. "Aria is an Omega. She would have burned out anyway. Why let that strength go to waste when it could keep this pack at the top of the food chain?"

​Cassian let out a sound, a low, pained growl that vibrated through the floorboards. "And the baby, Elena? The 'heir' I thought I was protecting?"

​Elena let out a jagged, pathetic laugh. "At first, there was no baby, Cassian. Julian gave me a tonic. It made me smell like you. It made my body look like it was changing. I just wanted to be a Vaelor. I just wanted to be someone important."

​Cassian stepped back as if she had struck him. The woman he had defended, the woman he had nearly killed me for... she was nothing but a shadow cast by Julian’s ghost.

“But, I checked myself again, it turns out, I am really pregnant. For real cassian.” Elena said with a passion and joy in her eyes.

​"Get out," Cassian whispered. Then, louder, a roar that shook the chandeliers: "GET OUT!"

​The guards didn't wait for the Grand Luna’s command this time. They grabbed Elena and dragged her upstairs towards her room, her sobs fading as the doors slammed shut.

Cassian turned to another guard not far from his left. “Find Maeve, check on her and report back."

The guard bowed and went towards the medical wing as Cassian turned his full gaze on his mother.

​I stood there, my heart hammering against my ribs. I looked at Noah. His eyes were fixed on his mother. The contract was dead, Silas was gone, and the woman who had sold us all was standing right in front of us.

​"You're leaving, Mother," Noah said, his voice flat and final. "Tonight. And if you ever set foot on Vaelor land again, I won't treat you like a mother. I'll treat you like an intruder."

​The Grand Luna looked at her two sons, one broken by a lie, the other fueled by a protective rage. She smiled, but it was the smile of a predator that knew its prey was still trapped.

​"You think you’ve won?" she asked, picking up her silk clutch. "The Syndicate in the North doesn't forget a debt. And that Mark on her neck? It’s already killing her. Good luck saving her, Noah. You'll find that love is a very poor shield against a curse."

​She swept out of the room, her heels clicking a terrifying beat.

​The three of us were left in the ruins of the dinner. Noah turned to me, his eyes full of a raw, desperate fear I had never seen in an Alpha. He reached out, his hand hovering near my face, but he didn't touch me.

​"Aria," he started.

​But before he could finish, the room began to tilt. The burning in my neck turned sharp as I felt white-hot agony that made me gasp. My knees gave out, and the last thing I saw was Noah lunging toward me as the world went black.