"Aron?" Zen repeated slowly his voice full of deibelief. Dam* it! Until this morning they had been sure that they were one. Why was he now hearing her be close to the enemy? "You are so close to him now? You still call Kael Your Highness. You still address Lance as Your Majesty. But the Dark Lord? You call him by his na?"
Zen paused, as if barely able to keep his own thoughts straight at her casual ntion of Aron. The familiarity of it unsettled him more than he cared to admit.
Emira drew in a deep breath and clenched her hands at her sides, grounding herself. "Zen, listen to . Aron and I... we were childhood friends in my past life before everything went wrong. Before all of this. We grew up together. He was my master. He was my family..."
At this mont, all rationality seed to leave Zen as he caught her shoulders and leaned in close to her, "And you were lovers as well," Zen cut in sharply. The restraint he had been holding onto finally snapped. "You rejected us for him. You almost shoved that ring in my face just to tell that you belonged to another man! You even dared to try and use magic on to tell to choose Shiqi!"
Emira stilled at that. They knew Shiqi too? "Did you... did you get your mories from your previous life?" she asked carefully.
She genuinely did not know. She could not rember doing any of the things Zen was accusing her of. The only mories she had were the ones Aron had shown her just now. And they were fragnted, emotional, and incomplete.
And yet, Zen had recognised the ring imdiately. Not only that, he had known exactly what it was. He had even known it had been her engagent ring and that she had shown it to him...
If they truly had those mories, then things might actually be easier.
If Zen, Kael, and Lance rembered their past lives-rembered what had truly happened-then rescuing Aron would no longer feel so impossible. They would know the truth. They would understand how things had unfolded on the night of the wedding.
They would know that Aron had not been the monster history painted him to be. Even as the realization settled in, Emira stilled at her own thoughts.
The Void Stone had already created a viable body for Aron. She knew that much. And now only a part of his spirit was trapped and captured sowhere beyond her reach. Earlier, she had believed that the fragnt alone would be enough for the Dark Lord. Enough to complete whatever purpose he had planned. Her only reason for bringing him back was to shove that ’prophecy’ in her biological father’s face.
But now... she was no longer so sure.
At so point in this evening, her target had changed. Yes, she still had the burning desire for revenge against Councilman Aldren. But she no longer wanted Aron partially restored. She wanted him whole again and she wanted him to be able to avenge himself on the one who had torn everything apart in the previous life as well as captured Aron for so long.
The realization settled heavily in her chest, bringing with it both resolve and fear. And for the first ti, Emira understood just how far she was willing to go to make that happen.
"Do you want your mories from the previous life, Mira? All you have to do is go to the Ruins. And you will get them. I am not the only one who has been trapped all these years. A part of you has been there too."
Emira frowned at the distraction! Dam* it! She didn’t need anyone intruding on her thoughts. Without much thought she slamd an imaginary door in her brain... There was no way she was going to...
But as she looked up at Zen, Lance and Kael... she knew she was going to listen to that voice...
She took a deep breath and then uttered the words," I want to go back to the Moonville Pack."
All chaos seed to break out then as Lance, Kael and Zen all three burst out with questions, exclamations and refusals...
"I will not allow you to go back there, Emira! I will tie you to the bed if I have to!"
Kael’s voice rang out sharply, cutting through the sudden chaos. Zen spoke at the sa ti, his words overlapping with Kael’s, both of them demanding answers, refusing outright, their voices heavy with anger and fear.
"That place is full of evil energy!"
"You think we would let you walk back into-"
"Enough." Lance’s voice cut through the noise like a blade. Both Kael and Zen fell silent instantly. The air around them seed to still, the tension coiling tighter instead of breaking.
Lance stepped forward slowly.
"You are going to go," Lance said quietly. "No matter what we say. No matter what we do. Isn’t that right?"
Emira swallowed. Her throat felt tight, but she did not look away and only nodded once.
"Yes."
The single word felt heavy. Final.
Lance exhaled slowly. "Emira. The Golden Moon is in six days. The guests have already started arriving today. But now you know the dark master was yours mate in your previous life? Is this why you want to leave? Do you want us to claim Ramona in your place? Is that it? Just like you asked us to claim Shiqi in the previous life?"
Kael’s head snapped toward Lance, but he said nothing.
"Or is it that you do not want to be with us now that you are free?"
The words struck harder than any accusation.
Emira shook her head imdiately. Tears welled in her eyes, spilling over before she could stop them. "No. That’s not it. I want to be with you. But I want to be with you when I am free."
Her hands curled into fists at her sides. "Right now, my heart is still in shackles. Shackles of the past. Of things I never finished. I need to be free of them, Lance."
Silence followed her words.
Lance looked at her for a long mont. His expression was unreadable, his thoughts hidden behind calm restraint. Then he spoke again. "Then promise this," he said. "Promise that you will return before the Golden Moon. Will you accept us as your mate then? You know that night is the only one-"
Emira turned her face away.
She could not et his eyes.
"I can’t," she whispered. "I don’t know if I can co back before then."
Kael took a sharp breath. Zen stiffened.
Emira’s hands trembled as she spoke again. "The Golden Moon is also the last chance I have," she said quietly. "The last chance to free Aron completely."
The words hung in the air and Lance stepped back.
It was a small movent, but it felt like a distance opening between them. He nodded once, slowly, as if acknowledging sothing he had already known.
"Fine," he said at last. "If you want to go, then leave."
Emira looked up in shock. For a mont, relief flooded her chest.
"Lance—thank you—"
"But," he continued, his voice cutting through her words with quiet firmness, "if you leave, we will not wait for you, Emira."
Her smile faltered.
The aning of his words settled in slowly, painfully.
"If you do not return before the Golden Moon," Lance said, "we will move forward without you."
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