Chapter 510
ARIA
Finis
“And then he helped her get out,” I said. “A cost to himself. Which is why he’s here and not somewhere else.” I held his gaze. “I know what he did. I know the history. I know the policy and what it means and what he represents. And I know you’re angry and I know you have the right to be angry.” I paused. “But put him through a wall this morning. At the gate. In front of half the pack.” I let that land. “I think that v
he moment.”
Kael looked at me.
“The moment,” he said.
“The one where the b and understood wh
administration. I
stays or goes an
The corridor
Kael looke
Then b
“S
aid.
ressed directly,” I said. “Through the gate wall. Where everyone saw i
t was the moment.” I held his gaze. “Everything after that is
arity protocols. Decisions about what happens to him and whether he apply.” I paused. “Not another swing.”
moment.
again. At the corridor. At the five people around him.
aid.
an confirmed.
said.
na said, “was the moment. Yes.”
–
and that was not agreement and also not disagreement
nent — the specific sound of someone esented with an argument they found correct and were finding the correctness annoying ant not getting the thing they wanted
errogation,” Nina said, already moving forward into operational mode, ‘should happen tomorrow. he first monitoring window has passed and Ivory’s confirmed the compound isn’t resurging. He’ll re cooperative with the injury stabilized.”
be more cooperative,” Jordan sill stop. He came here voluntarily. He submitted to treatment gave us an opening accor
nts to cooperate.”
e wants shelter, Kael
Both can be true?
namic.
ig to cooperate to get it. That’s a workable
9:53 am P
Chapter 510-
Finishe
“What does he know about the root,” Ivory said. “That’s the question that matters. He was in the room wit the decision-makers. They discussed activation if they had a timeline, a method, specific conditions-
–
“Tomorrow,” Nina said. “Full interrogation. Everything he knows.” She looked at Kael. “You don’t have to t in the room.”
“I’m going to be in the room,” Kael said.
“It might be more productive if you weren’t,” Nina said.
“I’m going to be in the room,” Kael said.
“Then,” Nina said, “we’re clear that the room does not involve wall incidents.”
“The room invo
“Good,” Nin
“Probably
“Kael
s and documentation,” Kael said. “That’s all.”
O
mentation,” he said, with the tone of someone making a commitment they were goin fort rather than ease.
d again. “Someone tell Martha before the evening meal.”
Ivory said again.
ot to-”
at to tell Martha,” Ivory said. “I’ve been managing Martha’s specific approach to people she es of for years. I know the conversation.”
worked before,” I said. “With Martha.”
was a pause.
fine worked,” Jordan said.
Has the person been fine after the meal,” I said.
Another pause.
“Fine is also a spectrum’
“Alive?” I said.
“Alive. Kacl
She ma
erent
9:53 am P
Chapter 510-
“Tell her,” I said. “Before dinner.”
“Before dinner, Ivory said. “I’ll
go
now.
Finish
She left with the purpose of someone who’d been given a task and was going to execute it before it becar more complicated.
The corridor settled back into the quieter version of itself— the four remaining
the four remaining people and me, the Saturday afternoon continuing outside, the secondary clinic somewhere below us with its patient and its monitoring protocol and its forty-eight-hour window.
Silver was warm and present and full of the things she’d been noticing.
*The wolf felt it,* she *When you said his fated mate is here too.*
*I know.* I said.
*He’s workin just what m
ning, Silver said. *Larger than the Killian situation. The Killian situation is y.*
*I know
*The
aid. *I know that sounds-*
n, I said. *The gate wall was the moment. Like I said.*
he wolf needed to express it. The person needed to express it. Now it’s been re’s space for the rest of it.*
ridor and thought about tomorrow’s interrogation and Martha and compound
the root that was still dormant somewhere in Kael’s body and the conversation that the hade space for.
a time.
Martha. Monitor the compound. Let Killian’s first day in the secondary clinic be a firs: day dditional wall incidents.
row: questions and documentation.
rest: when it was ready.
re you hungry,” Kael said.
looked at him.
“The break ends ior
them. At me. Ma
dinner. We car
than a specif
Dinner
of game.”
oday.” He looked at the corridor. At the four of y conversation. The kitchen will still produce one indicating a continuation of the day rather
9:53 am P
Chapter 510-
“The break ends tomorrow,” Nina said. “Last hand tonight.”
“Last hand tonight,” Jordan agreed.
“The mustache,” Elite said, “stays in the pocket.”
“The mustache,” Jordan said, “is officially retired.”
Finished
“The mustache,” Kael said, and his voice had the warmth-adjacent quality of someone finding something funny in a day that had also been heavy, “was iconic.”
“Thank you,” Jordan said, with the dignity of someone accepting a tribute.
“The beard,” Kael said, “was less convincing.”
“The beard was a com
“The hat,” Ivory’s “stays on.”
“The hat is
She didn
small a
piece,” Jordan said. “Not a realistic piece.”
m the far end of the corridor, already heading toward Martha’s kitchen,
said simultaneously.
e quality of her walk changed – just slightly, just for a moment, the specific one who’d heard something they’d needed to hear.
d something,* Silver said.
ns she said she was going to have,* Silver said. *She’s getting ready for them.*
Silver said.
i
it the corridor. At Kael and Nina and Jordan and Elite. At the secondary clinic direction. At the unds through the window at the end of the hallway.
I said.
went to find dinner.
Vn; Its been 11 shitty days, I know, my sickness have decided not to free me despite my medications, and
it’s so not cool especially wi
first week when ! was ba
apologize.
And I have beers
they are poin
Some of
virus spreading panic, but I am not as sick as I was in the
‘see I haven’t replied anything in a while, I
king my words, but also with the nupicking- uld like to use this medium to reply some
w Aria is being treated untair I had a specific
9:53 am P
Chapter 510-
Finis
reader who was complaining as early as chapter 70 and from the tone of her comment, she hated my book, she kept commenting until chapter 467 or 468, which is commitment, honestly. But I would like point this out, WE the readers are the only ones that knows the full story. Yes we have acknowledged A suffered, but can we also acknowledge that 50 percent of her problems existed because Aria was being Aria, I don’t know how anyone was even barely to read through that woe betide me chapters of Aria PC that kept p
hair, but she caused her issues.
Like L
and
th
sed realism in my books, I know people were expecting Aria to move to shadowm everything, even breathing will bring sounds of applause and love declaration and
sh realities and we all decide ivory was the problem. Ivory of all people! Okay jordai ome on, she was literally the only one that had nothing bad to say especially with Ari everything.
d off. I’ll continue in the next chapter.
2.9K
8
이
9:53 am P
Mated To My Mate’s Worst Enemy
A passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.