Chapter 218

Chapter 218

Chapter 218

IVORY

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But he’d also said something else, something I’d overheard when he’d thought I wasn’t listening: *”Ivory is the best. She’ll help Aria. She’ll make sure they succeed.

Such absolute faith. Such certainty that I would protect his mate, would ensure her survival, would prioritize partnership over personal feelings.

I looked at Aria’s unconscious form. At the careful stitching I’d just completed. At the supplies I’d used from my limited resources to save someone who probably would have died without intervention.

I could leave her here. Report to Phase Two alone, claim she’d failed to reach the checkpoint in time, let her be disqualified while I continued competing solo or was reassigned to a different partner.

It would be easy. Justifiable. She was genuinely inadequate for this level of competition. Letting her fail wasn’t cruel-it was just acknowledging reality.

But Kael’s voice kept echoing. His faith that I would do the right thing. His certainty that I valued partnership and pack welfare over personal convenience.

And there was something else. Something in the way Arada had phrased her initial warning: *”Do try to keep your partner alive p>

Aryada had never liked Aria. Had made that clear through subtle expressions and weighted silences during their initial interview. Had been the one elder who’d seemed most skeptical about Aria’s suitability as Luna.

And now, during the Hunt, Aria had been attacked by a magical illusion specifically designed to look like me. An illusion solid enough to cause real injury. An “accident” that could easily have been fatal if Aria hadn’t possessed the knowledge to treat herself with nightshade.

Aryada wasn’t just testing us. She was actively trying to ensure Aria failed. Possibly trying to ensure she died in an “accident” that would remove the inadequate Luna from a position Aryada thought she didn’t deserve.

I couldn’t prove it. But my instincts-honed through years of reading patients and understanding subtext- screamed that this suspicion was correct.

Which meant leaving Aria here would be playing into exactly what Aryada wanted. Would be allowing the Ghost Council to eliminate Kael’s mate through manufactured “accidents’ during a competition that was supposed to test capability, not serve as convenient assassination opportunity,

Damn it.

I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t leave her here even knowing she was inadequate, even resenting her presence in my life, even wishing circumstances had been different

Because leaving her would be cruel. Would be the kind of casual dismissal of life that went against everything I’d trained for as a healer. Would make me someone I didn’t want to be.

I finished treating her wounds and gathered her into my arms once again. Carried her back to my campsite. Positioned her near the fire where warmth would help with shock recovery. Made sure her bandages were secure and her breathing remained steady.

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Chapter 218

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Then I went hunting again. Caught fish from a nearby ream. Gathered berries and edible plants. Built up our supplies because she’d need food when she woke, and my own stores wouldn’t sustain both of us through Phase Two.

By the time I returned to camp, the sun was setting. The fire had burned down to coals. And Aria was awake, sitting up carefully, her hand pressed against her bandaged abdomen, her eyes tracking my movements with deep suspicion.

“Stay back,” she said, her voice hoarse. “I don’t know if you’re real or another illusion. I don’t trust you p>

I set down my gathered supplies and regarded her with frustration. “I saved your life. Treated your wounds. Carried you to the checkpoint. If I were an illusion trying to kill you, you’d be dead already p>

“The other one seemed helpful too,” Aria countered. “Right up until she stabbed me. Forgive me for being

cautious p>

“Ask me something,” I said, moving slowly to avoid starting her. “Something only the real me would know. Verify my identity p>

Aria opened her mouth. Closed it. Her expression became troubled as she clearly struggled to think of something.

And I realized with uncomfortable clarity: she couldn’t. She didn’t actually know me well enough to verify who I was. We’d lived in the same pack for weeks, had interacted countless times, but we’d never built the kind of relationship where she’d know personal details that could confirm identity.

We were strangers. Paired as teammates. Expected to trust each other. And we had no foundation for that

trust.

“I can’t,” Aria finally admitted, her voice small. “I don’t know you well enough to ask verification questions. I don’t know what only you would know that an illusion wouldn’t be able to fake p>

The dysfunction of our partnership was laid bare in that admission. We were supposed to work together. To trust each other. To function as a unit.

But we didn’t know each other. Didn’t trust each other. Had nothing to build that partnership on except necessity and the tactical reality that we needed each other to survive the Hunt.

“Then we proceed as uncertain allies,” I said finally. “You don’t have to trust that I’m real. But you do have to accept that staying here arguing about it won’t get us through Phase Two. And neither of us will survive

alone p>

Aria’s jaw set stubbornly. “How do I know Phase Two even exists? How do I know this isn’t just another Another way to get me to lower my guard so you can finish what the other illusion started p>

This was going to be more difficult than I’d anticipated.

Much more difficult.

And we didn’t have time for it.

But we were stuck with each other.

For better or worse.

Partners in a Hunt neither of us could survive alone p>

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Chapter 218

No certainty that we were even both real.

This was going to be a disaster.

Mark