Aria's Revenge

CHAPTER TEN

Aria’s POV

A sharp twig pierced my feet as I ran barefoot in the forest.

“Long time, Aria,” a familiar voice echoed behind my ear.

I turned back but I saw no one. “ Show yourself,” I managed to say as my voice quivered.

A loud treacherous voice resounded in the forest. “ Aria, you don’t belong in Eldrid. You belong to the rogues,” And in that instant, Ryder appeared in front of me.

“Ryder,” I yelled as I lunged to attack him.

But my hands met only air. He vanished like mist.

“Aria,” I heard Lila called.

I gasped, jolting upright in bed, drenched in sweat.

“Aria, are you okay?” Lila held me closer, patting my back. She then handed me a cup of water by the bedside lantern.

“I had a terrible nightmare,” I managed to say after gulping down the cup of water.

“Alpha Ryder?” She asked and I looked up at her in surprise. “ How did you know?” I asked.

“You were screaming his name. Luckily, I was passing by after I just finished helping Lyra with her laundry,” she explained.

“She called you to work by this time?” Anger surged through me.

“It’s fine. It's nothing like what I did in Raven’s peak.”

Something jolted in my memory and I came down from the bed in a flash and turned towards the door. I heard Lila ask me where I was going to but I barely had the time to answer her.

I met the guards at Kael’s bedroom entrance, who stopped me as I ignored them to enter the room.

“Can you tell the Lycan I want to speak to him,” I said in a rush.

The guards looked at each other briefly before one of them entered and came out with Kael.

“Remember that day by the stream?” I started and became conscious of the guards looking at us.

“Can we go somewhere and talk?” I asked.

Kael nodded and followed me while I led him to a corner by the hallway. Away from the ear shots of the guards.

“Ryder was there that day, that day by the stream,” I finally said.

Walking up from the nightmare jolted my memories. The reason I attacked Kael, I am not sure, but it happened immediately after I saw him.

“I think he placed a spell on me, and that’s why I attacked you,” I said, looking at him for any reaction, but his face was as cold as stone.

“Aria, look around, where do you think you are?” He asked.

I squinted my eyes at him, unsure of what he meant by that. He answered the question himself. “ This is Eldrid. There is no way Ryder would have gotten here without my knowledge,” he said, then rubbed his temple before he continued. “ Ryder can’t even come here. Are you drunk on Moon’s alcohol?”

Moon’s alcohol is a strong alcohol that is only brought out whenever the army wins a war or a fight.

“What? There is no way I could get my hands on it,” I replied in disbelief. “I am certain…” I tried to say before I got interrupted.

“All you do since you reach Eldrid is talk about Ryder. When are you going to stop being miserable and move on,” He said. His words hurt like a knife sliced my chest.

Kael was strict and firm, but he had been patient and kind since I got to Eldrid, and it made me wonder what I had done wrong.

I swallowed hard before I opened my mouth to speak but he beat me to it. “This is the last time you should come near my chambers,” he said before walking away.

Dejectedly, I walked back to my empty room. Lila must have gone to bed. I sat on the bed and pondered on what Kael had said.

The sunset shone through the curtain and settled on me, the same spot I had been in last night. I wasn’t able to sleep throughout the night.

A knock on my door told me it was Lila; she was the first person to come to my room in the morning.

“I had been waiting for you,” I said, opening the door with a smile which quickly faltered.

“You have been waiting for me?” Lyra said, standing in front of the doorway with kitchen utensils.

“I thought it was Lila,” I managed to say.

“Not sorry to disappoint you,” she said, handing me the bowl of kitchen utensils.

“What’s this?” I asked, looking confused.

“Weren’t you told?” She said before she continued. “You are helping to make food for the army in preparation for the combat against the rogues tomorrow.”

“I walked out of the door when she spoke, “ It was Kael’s order.” And with that, she left.

Working in the kitchen was new to me. Even though an orphan. I was the child of a beta, so I had the privilege of growing up. Even when I was bullied after my parents’ death, it just stopped at that. I didn’t work with the omegas.

Lila wasn’t here to help me as she was given another work to do so I was all alone. The kitchen staff just designated work to do, and when I struggled, they ignored me. Whispers and small talk were what they made with themselves as they took stolen glances at me.

The food-making was finally done, and I was given the sole responsibility to serve the food. There were about two hundred soldiers. Lila came for supervision and when I brought up how unfair the work portion was, she ignored me.

Tired, I retreated to my room after sharing the food. My body aches no bad and even training doesn’t make my body hurt.

I was trying to catch on some beauty sleep when my floor flung open, and two guards held me up from the bed.

“What is wrong?” I panicked as they dragged me.

They pushed me down, and it was an open space; it seemed like everyone in the pack house had gathered. I looked up and for the first time, I saw Kael not the usual gleam he was but as a proper Lycan.

“Aria, a guest of Eldrid,” his voice boomed, silencing the crowd. “You stand before the Eldrid court, summoned for questioning on why you decided to poison the soldiers,”

“Poison?” I looked around in panic and adjusted my knees, which were cold against the marbles.

“My soldiers have fallen into a deep slumber after taking the food…”

“I wasn’t the only one who cooked,” I interrupted.

“But you were the only one who served the food. Before the food was served, Lyra had tasted out of it, but she had no reaction. But why have my soldiers passed out and can’t be woken up.”

I breathed heavily unsure of what to say or what was happening. I watched as Thane walked in and whispered into Kael’s ear while offering him a liquid.

“A vial of moon alcohol and nightshade was just retrieved from your room,” he announced.

The crowds went into a huge whisper.

“I didn’t do it,” I shook my head as I yelled.

“The elders of the council have decided your punishment. You are to be thrown out of Eldrid.”