The Hybrid Luna's Revenge

Chapter Ten

Aria's POV

I followed right beside her as we crossed the threshold of the palace and towards the north side of the pack grounds.

The garden we approached was beautiful, perfectly trimmed hedges lining stone pathways, there were flower beds arranged by colour with a certain kind of precision that I guessed Lila had.

She came off as that kind of person who would patiently wait to get the things she wanted and when they finally got to her grip, she didn't mind dealing with any threat whatsoever.

It was what I felt, what I was.

A threat to her.

Further into the garden, we came towards a long table already set beneath a fancy canopy of climbing white roses.

There were already women seated at the table, all holding fancy cups and discussing amongst themselves.

They rose as we approached, their smiles brightened immediately as they watched Lila introduce them without looking at me.

"Mara, wife of Elder Derwin. Sessa, daughter of the head warrior. Blythe, who manages the inner household." A small gesture in my direction. "And of course you all know Aria."

They all looked towards me with the careful pleasantness of women who had been briefed.

We all settled in minutes after, with teas poured and small plates passed.

Mara set down her cup and looked at me with sympathetic eyes.

“we have heard so much about you”

"You must have been through so much,” Sessa added. " Especially the raid at Blackstone, everything before that” a soft pause like she was checking if her words were having any effect on me. “We were all so relieved when His highness brought you back safely."

“That was kind of him.” I managed to say.

"Especially when he killed the guard who framed you,” Sessa said.

"I'm glad they caught him, no future Luna should experience…." Mara stopped abruptly, like someone had pinched her to shut up.

The rest of them glanced at Lila with a nervous energy, like they were second-guessing the timing of what they had been told to say.

But instead, Lila said nothing. She turned her cup slowly in its saucer.

I watched her and waited.

It took until the second round of tea before the other women had softened into easier conversation and Lila had been quiet long enough that it became somewhat pressing for the others.

Then she spoke.

"It must be strange,” her words sounded pleasant, addressing no one in particular, which was the particular cruelty of addressing me. "Retuning back to a place that has moved on. Everyone finding their footing, the pack settling and new arrangements made."

Her lips curved at her cup.

“And then someone comes back and everything has to reassure itself again."

Mara laughed softly with uncertainty and I said nothing.

“Though I suppose," she continued. “It is useful. Having her back for pack purposes." Her eyes moved to me then and I suddenly recalled the chatter between Elias and the elder.

" Elias has always been so devoted to the pack's strength. It's one of the things that makes him such a remarkable Alpha. That he would do whatever is necessary."

Whatever is necessary.

“You know him so well" I held her gaze “very dedicated," I agreed.

Her expression flickered like she had expected me to flinch and I had not and it irritated her in a way she was too controlled to show fully.

Lila set her cup down.

“I heard you saw something at the ball last night,” she said. The other women went still. “A woman was it? At the ball."

“A witch" I corrected.

She rolled her eyes. “How unsettling still..”

"Why is that?” I readjusted "I mean it is possible. When you invite witches to a werewolf ball, they will always be witches…."

“Are you implying our guests are of unruly manners?” she held out her glass.

“Your words not mine my lady “ I remarked, causing her to glare at me before forcing a smile when she turned to the others.

"Elias brought you back for reasons I don't know. But I'm sure you're just a tool”

My fist curled into a ball.

“You're just a tool, Aria. You're just a stubborn tool who should have died with her parents and who should have died at Blackstone"

She locked my gaze with a calm and composed expression.

I felt the current run through my chest line a burn, sand burn I felt when I snapped the silver chains and when I threw the guard across the room.

My parents?

How did she ever think she had the right to bring them up?

The cups on the table began to rattle and I could feel the air itself seem to tighten around me.

Lila's composure fractured slightly as her eyes dropped to my hands and then back to my face.

“You think I'm scared of you?” she started. "How about you show us who you really are…”

“You should be careful," I heard myself say, and my voice came out wrong, lower than usual. “About what you put in your mouth"

The rattling intensified and Mara pushed back from the table. Sessa stood up fully, I could hear her chair scraping stone.

I could feel the power moving through my arms now, up my throat and pressing behind my eyes.

My hands flattened on the table and the roses above the canopy began to tremble.

Then the cups exploded, all of them with a percussive crack that sent porcelain fragments skittering across the stone in every direction, tea spraying across the white table cloth.

Mara screamed and pushed back further from the table.

Sessa, who was already on her feet before the echo of it finished, staggered back as her hand pressed to the small cut on her cheek where a fragment had caught her.

Lila had not moved but when I turned to her, her mouth opened but no sound came out.

Her fingers kept working at her throat.

I watched as her nails dragged against her skin, searching for something to grip on.

“Aria what are you doing?" Blythe called out, keeping her distance.

" Making sure she doesn't utter any more empty threats” I resorted.

Part of me wanted to stop but the urge to have her learn the hard way. Overwhelmed me.

Lila's face was going red, her lips shaped something, a word or a name.

I couldn't tell.

“You'll kill her, Lady Aria. Please let go"

The power surged through me, like I couldn't stop it even if I wanted to but then suddenly someone grabbed my arm and immediately the grip on her released and liquor collapsed forward onto the table with a gasping sound.

Her composure gone entirely and her hair falling across the ruined table cloth as she dragged in breath after ragged breath.

My head rang.

They all rushed to her and tried to hold her, muttering inaudible words at the same time.

I brought my hand to my head, trying to steady myself but then the edges of my vision had gone blank, my knees felt too small to hold my legs and my grip on the edge of the table failed as well.

“my lady, are you okay?”

" Is she breathing?”

"She's having a seizure”

Those words rang in my ears before I collapsed to the ground and everywhere went blank.