Chapter Seventy–Two 

“...What‘s her name?” I found myself asking politely, though I didn‘t really feel present. 

Truthfully, I didn‘t feel much of anything. My body had gone completely numb, falling into autopilot responses as I struggled to come to terms with what Cai had just told me. 

He found his mate. 

But he was only nineteen. He shouldn‘t have found her so soon. 

‘Caius knight dies at the age of twenty–one with no Luna, mate or child‘. That was the future for Cail had known. Yet somehow this timeline had changed enough that he had met her earlier. It was a cruel slap in the face as reality reminded me, once more, that it would refuse to ever let me be happy. Even for just the few years I thought I might have had with him. 

“Caitlyn,” he replied awkwardly. “She seems... nice. Sweet.” 

‘Nice? Really? That was the best he could say about the woman who was supposedly his other half? His soul mate? 

I wanted to ask him how they met but a part of me couldn‘t bear to hear any more details. Knowing her name would be enough. 

Aria,” he said, tilting my chin up to look at him, to meet his golden eyes. “It doesn‘t change anything for m e... I still want to be with you.” 

Instantly, my body tensed, the gears in my head finally starting to kick back into reality. His words managed to trigger a pain inside me that I was all too familiar with, something I had tried so hard to push t o the furthest part of my mind. It was almost exactly like it was in the past. 

...Except I wasn‘t the girl being abandoned by her mate anymore. 

No, now I was being set up to become Thea. 1 

“No,” I said flatly, grabbing the keys and dagger by my side to leave. “No, I‘m not doing this.” 

Aria, wait. Talk to me.” 

I stood up and started to walk towards the car but Cai quickly rushed to stand in my way

Aria, please. Can we just talk about this for a second?” 

“No, this was dumb from the beginning,” I said. “And I‘m not just referring to us. I mean this whole plan for my escape too. It‘s rushed and clumsy.” 

“We‘ve got everything sorted. We‘ll get you back to the Silver Lake and take care of you.” 

There it was again. No insinuation of moving me, no mention of Iris or the rebellion. As if he thought everyone wasn‘t going to just assume that the Silver Lake was the first place I‘d go. 

“Tell me, Cai, what exactly was the plan? Do you even have one?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest. “I was under the impression you were working with Iris for this but I‘m quickly realising that maybe that‘s not the case.” 

He frowned. “Why would I be in contact with Iris for this? I haven‘t seen her since last year.” 

A cynical laugh escaped my lips. “This is actually ridiculous. The first place Tytus is going to look is the Silver Lake, especially once Aleric is forced to confess that info. Then we‘re back to square one; avoiding a war between two territories because of me.” 

Lilapler Seventy Two 

“Then we‘ll move you,” he argued. “We can go somewhere else until it‘s safe.” 

“Just the three of us, yeah?” I snapped back snarkily. “You, me, and Caitlyn?” 

feel bad. He should have never touched me tonight knowing he had someone bonded to him. I was too familiar with the anguish of

home, Cai,” I said, stepping past him to continue walking to the car.

felt as Cai then grabbed my wrist and tried to pull me to face him once

No, I was pissed. Not because he had a mate; that was always going to be a possibility and I had already accepted that. No, I was pissed because he still had the audacity to look at me and tell me that he

this exact situation

out to grab me,

Beta heir days, I still managed to quickly bring the dagger up and hold it up t

touch me,” I growled.

very easily swat my hand away without any issue

he said, his eyes flicking back and forth from my face to

appealing to the side of me that still cared for him, but now they

instantly, my hand tightened on

do it?” I asked him, my eyes

right. There was no way I would actually do it and he was trying to call that bluff. But in

feel sick. It made me regret

of who I really was, what I was actually capable of, something he was apparently

I came from. Never forget

hand, I grabbed at his shirt and pulled his torso down so I could speak directly into his ear.

test someone who has killed

...What are you talking about?”

you, Cai,” I confessed. “I lied so I didn‘t scare you away. But do you want to know the truth? The real truth? You see, I knew you in the past, Caius Knight, Alpha of the Silver Lake. Our packs were at war for months, neither one gaining the upper hand... and then

the eye. “Because of me,” I said. “I was your dooth. I killed you.

confessed the words! never wanted him to hear. “... I did it for my family‘s honour... I did it to make

so brutally deprived me olu!

of us spoke, just my words hanging in the open as he slowly took it

see. Not some young, tormented girl he met

should have done this a long time ago. But had been too weak to go through with it; to sever that tie that had become a lifeline for me. Cai had become a symbol in my head of what I

that this wasn‘t a fantasy, that being with him was

to let go of that delusion and prevent

he said, gently trying to move the dagger

seconds without any effort on his part... but he

to at least believe

make it two for two?” I

back to his side, acknowledging that there was nothing he

e with those

let m e go. Or at least take this as my confirmation that I didn‘t want to be involved with him anymore; even though a part of my mind was still screaming at me to take it all back, to find a way to still be

him, taking a few steps backwards to create some

betraying my exhaustion. “Go home and be an honourable man to

then I left.

key in the ignition, and

were likely the wrong choice. And so I just drove. Without a destination, into the dark, and with my eyes threatening to overflow with tears at any

Chapter Seventy–Two 

second. 

or give in to the pain just yet... because I needed

doing my best to compartmentalise the aching inside, I tried to

of the world... and Tytus. There was no safety for me. Not really. Maybe

was in contact with Iris, one person who

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