Chapter 52: Chapter 52

Zaira's POV

The common room was huge. Countless wooden benches and tables sprouted from the floor and circled the enormous, stout tree in the middle of the hall. Its pink blossoms rustled in the light, magical breeze and spread throughout the room in a pretty flower dance, while meanwhile umpteen different drinks and foods were passed around.

The whole army was here and spent the last hours before the war together. There was laughter, hoots and celebrations as if they couldn't wait to go into battle and walk away victorious.

At any other time I would have happily joined them and shared their good humor, but here I was, standing at the edge of the great hall, my face whitening with every second that passed. How could I have been so wrong? How could I be so profoundly mistaken about someone?

Didn't all those years with the Darkmoon Pack teach me anything?

I dug my claws into my palm and pushed back the welling tears.

Oh no, she wouldn't bring me this far to mourn her, she didn't deserve that.

As soon as Aramis saw her, he marched straight towards her through the crowd while I followed him. Hoping that everything here would be a dream I could wake up from, I pinched my arm - but in vain.

"Give me one damn good reason not to kill you right now." Silence fell as a mouse and everyone in the hall stopped what they were doing to draw attention to Aramis.

"W... what?" Illyria stuttered dazedly while staring wide-eyed up at Aramis.

"You already understood me."

Illyria shook her head and her gaze wandered to me. "I do not understand..."

"Don't play dumb, we both know what you did."

"Aramis what is that, are you completely out of your mind now? That's Illyria we're talking about!" Reah, who was standing next to Illyria and had been chatting with her earlier, now put her hands on her hips and glared accusingly at Aramis.

Arami's eyes narrowed. "Reah stay out of this."

But she didn't listen to him, standing directly in front of Illyria, who was frozen in fear to a hydrochloric acid. I could understand Reah, how could she trust her own friend, whom she had known and loved for centuries, to commit such a crime?

Was the evidence found enough to put her behind bars?

What if she hadn't done it on purpose?

Maybe she didn't know about it herself, wasn't aware of what she had done?

I would like to close my eyes to the truth and all of the questions that follow and throw it into the deepest abyss so that it never comes out again. But of course I knew that wasn't an option. I had to face the fact and then accept it.

"No, I won't! I certainly won't shut up while you stand in front of me and accuse Illyria of betraying us!" if Reah could breathe fire, she would at that moment.

Aramis neither growled nor roared in anger. He sounded cold, contemptuous and dangerous and that's what he looked like. His striking facial features made his face appear even harder and the tenderness he had shown me a few hours before now seemed completely impossible. "But she was, or why was she absent from her service?"

Reah threw her hands in the air. "Please, that's ridiculous! Zaira, you know that's not true."

All of a sudden, all the attention was on me.

Was Reah right? Was it ridiculous?

No , it wasn't, but stupid as it was, I hoped so. This morning, while I was still recovering from the tremendous energy expenditure brought on by Goddess Healing, Aramis had been busy getting to the bottom of the crime and finding out who was responsible for Serdas getting through it in the first place and tightly secured shield could penetrate.

And he had found the answer to that.

There was only one side I would ever stand on, so I joined Aramis. The mate ribbon flared violently.

Reah inhaled with a hiss. "You can not be serious!"

Illyria's hand flashed out and with difficulty pushed Reah aside. "It's okay Reah, I can defend myself."

"About about time, too," Aramis said acidly. "So where have you been?"

Illyria's jaw twitched, but she wasn't provoked and clasped her hands behind her back. "I was in the kitchen, like I always do at this time."

That could well be true, she always cooked for us, which was sweet and kind of her. This is exactly why it was so hard to imagine that she was really behind all of this.

"See, there you have it! Now leave her alone Aramis!" Reah exclaimed. Her face had turned red with anger and it looked like she was about to smack Aramis until he finally let go of Illyria. Luckily at that moment Ares stepped and held Reah back - not because Aramis couldn't fight back, but precisely because he could fight back.

"Reah calm down and let him speak," Ares soothed her. A little later, Reah stopped struggling against his grip and instead crossed her arms defiantly.

Aramis ignored Reah, turned to Illyria and got straight to the point. "Why was your energy missing from the ward?"

She staggered. "Please?"

"That night, there was a weak spot in the shield, right where your energy should have been. So, I ask you again, why was she missing?"

"She wasn't missing, please Aramis, you have to believe me!" Desperation and sheer panic filled her words, causing my heart to bleed. "Zaira, come on, it wasn't me!"

I was close to believing her were it not for the fact that I had seen it. The holograms recording every second of the ward had played back all the information from that nightmarish night and let us see exactly what had happened. Illyria's energy had not resided in the ward, but was absent from the tightly woven magical structure that formed the ward, leaving a weak point. While it was a tiny little gap that was easy to miss, it was large enough to offer Serdas a way into the palace.

“We saw Illyria, she wasn't there. How come? Tell me, why did you do that?" I didn't care that I was pleading. I didn't want to believe for a moment that she was on Serda's side, that she had betrayed us and almost killed Reah.

"It must have been an accident, I didn't realize for a second that I wasn't using it!" she took a few steps towards us as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I'm sorry! So believe me, I'm sorry!"

My jaw hurt like hell I gritted my teeth and prevented myself from accepting her apology and hugging her.

"Bullshit!" Aramis spat out and growled. "Your energy wasn't just lacking, you used it! So don't tell me shit and spit it out!"

Then Illyria's entire attitude changed from one moment to the next. A sly grin graced her face. "It took you a long time to figure it out. And I thought you had at least a little bit more in your head - how disappointing."

No!

Her betrayal was like a slap in the face. Matt slipped my hand out of Arami's grip and I backed away.

Aramis grabbed Illyria by the collar of her white dress and roughly yanked her into the air, his face dangerously close to hers . Not in a romantic way, though, more like he's about to sink his fangs into her skin and break her neck. "You're going to regret that." His claws extended dangerously close to her artery.

"Oh come on Aramis, you can do better than that." Her smile was so sick it made me shudder.

A wild, dark growl echoed through the large room as Illyria's body crashed with a thud onto the tabletop behind her. The wood snapped in half. "How long already?"

Groaning, she tried to sit up under the debris of the table and then cocked her head thoughtfully as she braced herself on her elbows. "Hmmm.. dunno, forgot." She shrugged, then giggled as she tapped her temple, rolling her eyes. "Me silly."

Without warning, his fist hit her cheekbone with full force, sending her head flying back . Towering over Illyria, Aramis glared down at her menacingly, but it was not he who spoke. "How long Illyria?" Reah stood rigidly next to Ares.

Illyria's hysterical laughter that followed, coupled with her blood-covered teeth, painted a disturbing image. "Longing. Very long, centuries."

At that moment, Reah broke. "Fucking bitch! she yelled at Illyria, her voice shaking with tears. "I trusted you! I fucking trusted you, you hear! How could you? Like Illyria, HOW ? "

I saw the pain on Reah's face as her voice cracked and startled. My suffering was nothing compared to hers. Pure pain was written on her face again, the betrayal hit her to the core.

"Oh, don't be so bad Reah, I'm really sorry about Leav too." Illyria said apologetically, but then added: "Hmm.. Or not."

Then three things happened simultaneously. Reah let out an angry cry of pain and threw himself on Illyria, Ares held her tight and Aramis slammed her body against the ceiling with his mental powers.

White flakes trickled down and landed on my nose - the ceiling facade crumbled.

And then he just dropped them and smashed them onto the stone floor.

Illyria didn't cry out as she smashed to the ground, but she still writhed in agony. Her dark red hair was damp with her blood and she coughed croakingly. "Oh, is that all? Doesn't the bad wolf have more to offer?" My blood froze at her dirty laugh.

"Illyria, you are accused of treason. This crime will be paid for with death. ", the verdict was harsh, but fair. I swallowed the pain of seeing Illyria, I couldn't shake it anyway, and instead dealt with something I could very well change. Namely, the fact that Aramis was alone standing in front of Illyria and pronouncing the verdict, although he was no longer alone .

My eyes traveled from him to the entire mass of grim-faced soldiers as I shouted out the following words with fervor, raising my fist in the air:

“Zeris atek Zeris!"

My roar echoed through the crowd as all eyes were on me and... nothing happened.

It was so quiet in the hall that you could even hear the sound of a needle dropping. I was about to crawl into bed in embarrassment and not get out for days when suddenly the whole army threw up their fists and echoed my call with ferocious determination and belligerence.

Completely flashed by what was happening, I gasped and turned around on my own axis. Everyone around me joined in the call and merged into one great army.

I smiled and stepped next to Aramis. As soon as my fingers touched his palm, his gaze snapped to me. Without taking my eyes off his, I laced my hand in his and squeezed it. He would never be alone again, I stood by his dark side as well as his light side.

We were a team.

And the whole army too.

The hardness in his gaze softened. He pulled me to his chest, hugged me and joined in the yelling as well, making it clear to everyone that I was his - in every way possible.