Chapter 180
RHEA
Burying that body is off the table. At least for now, at least until I’ve all this sorted. It can’t be possible that Aron just locked up the room after the conversation we had. He must’ve done it before.
Perhaps when he returned.
He’s watching me closely, seeing if I’m going to turn mad, seeing if something needs to change. He knows. He knows the same thing that the Council
knows.
“Is it to your liking?”
“Hm?” My head lifts up, eyes meeting Aron’s.
The food in front of me is barely touched. It’s just swirling around my fork as I keep thinking.
“Yeah, it’s good.” I smile at him before looking at Marcella. “Thank you, Marcella.”
“Oh, you’ve barely eaten anything.”
“I will.”
I nod and place the food inside my mouth, chewing, swallowing. It’s good, but it feels tasteless, like nothing at all, like there’s nothing. It doesn’t feel as warm. And the thoughts keep racing, one after another.
I take a few more bites before wrapping it up there.
“I’ve your room prepared earlier, if you’d like to sleep in it.” She says to me.
I glance over at Aron, a little surprised. “Do I have to?”
“Of course not,” he shakes his head before looking up at her. “It’s fine, Marcella. She can be with me.”
Marcella nods before stepping out and leaving us alone in the dining room. I finish the food on my plate and lean back. My head is spinning. It’s been hours. It doesn’t stop, it hasn’t.
“Rhea,” I hear Aron call. He’s sitting on the seat right beside mine and he reaches out, his hand resting over mine.
“What is it? What are you thinking of?”
“Nothing,” I sigh. I’m thinking about that fucking room, the one that he’s locked. “Just a bit tired, I guess.”
“Then let’s get some sleep.”
Right, that would be the best thing right now only if my thoughts weren’t so loud.
“I wanted to ask about something,” I turn to him and say. My hand slides over his on the table and I tilt my head. “Earlier, when I left and they took me, you must’ve been worried?”
“Of course. I found out an hour later, when I came looking for you and you weren’t there. By morning, I understood that someone from the Council must’ve gotten their hands on you.”
“But you’re still-“I pause, finding the right words. “You?”
His brows furrow at my question. It takes him a moment to understand what I’m trying to say.
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Chapter 180
“He wanted to: Tried his best, but I wouldn’t let him.”
So, you can control him now?” I question about his wolf, Kael.
The last time I had seen him on the surface was when he marked me. I could feel him, all of him.
I’m trying. Hopefully, it won’t east for him this time.” His hand tightens around mine and he narrows his gaze. “Don’t worry, Rhea. You’re going to be sate with me either way. The last thing I will do is hurt you. You must know that.”
And for the better part, I do believe that. I believe that Aron won’t hurt me, and neither will his wolf.
But there are other things that might happen.
Kael is dangerous, yes, to others. To enemies. To anything that stands in his way. But he isn’t to me. And maybe, on some level, I know that he’d understand me, want me far more differently than Aron does. He wouldn’t see me as the monster I looked like when I ripped off that she wolf’s head in the woods. He wouldn’t stop me from anything. He’d do it with me, and he’d ensure that I would live for as long as I can.
He would protect me.
I sit back slightly, pulling my hand away from his. Aron watches me, sensing the shift but not stopping.
“Do you think he still feels it?” I ask.
“What?”
“The bond?” I whisper. “Kael. Do you think he still feels it the way he did before? I did poison him.”
“Well, he did mark you. You’re not someone he forgets.”
That lands deeper than I expect. I swallow around the lump in my throat.
“What about you?” I ask. “When you think of me now… do you see me? Or do you still see her?”
“You are one, Rhea. For me. No matter what you do, what changes, I know that I will still choose you, that I will still love you.”
He says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. And for the moment, I know it is.
But it doesn’t soothe the ache inside me the way I want to.
Because it’s not about choosing. It’s about recognising.
“The longer you think of this, the worse it will get. You died, and that was the worst thing that could ever happen. But none of us can change it. I will always cherish that you’re here right now, more than anything else.” He just says it, plain and firm, like he has already made peace with every version of me I’ll ever become.
But how quickly can it change?
He may say this now, but in a few days–a few weeks, that view of his can change. All it would take is one crack. One moment of fear. One whisper from the Council telling him what needs to be done.
He could wake up, look at me, and decide I’m no longer her. No longer worth the risk.
I don’t think Aron would ever want to hurt me. But I know he could.
Worse, I know he’ll choose her. Always.
That’s why I can’t let him be the one in control anymore.
I need Kael. Kael doesn’t reasons, doesn’t hesitates and doesn’t care about the balance or the Council. He only cares about me.
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And if I have any chance of keeping myself alive, I need him awake. Because if it comes down to a choice, I know Kael won’t choose her
He’ll choose me.
