TWENTY FOUR: ARIA

I barely slept that night, Lyra's words echoing in my mind like a cruel lullaby.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Alpha Kael's cold expression in the medical wing, heard him referring to me as "pack business," felt the sting of his formal dismissal.

Maybe she was right. Maybe I had been fooling myself about what existed between us.

Dawn was just breaking when a soft knock interrupted my restless thoughts.

I expected to see Kayla or Chloe with breakfast, but instead found Ryder standing in my doorway, his kind grey eyes filled with concern and something that looked like guilt.

"Ryder?" I sat up in bed, pulling my robe tighter around myself.

"What are you doing here? It's barely six in the morning."

"I needed to see you before the Lumina representatives arrive," he said quietly, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him.

"There are things you need to know. Things about your past that no one else will tell you."

My heart began to race.

"What things?"

He moved to the window, staring out at the forest with the same troubled expression he'd worn so often during our years with the Vale family.

"Aria, do you remember anything about the night Mum's brother and his wife supposedly died? Any real memories, not the story Dad always told?"

"I've been having flashes since my awakening. Fire, smoke, men in dark clothing..."

I trailed off, afraid to voice the growing certainty that everything I'd been told was a lie.

"It wasn't a car accident," Ryder said heavily.

"Your parents were murdered, and you were kidnapped. Victor and Nadine weren't your distant relatives – they were hired by the people who orchestrated your family's death. I am Reena..."

The words hit me like physical blows, even though part of me had suspected the truth.

"How do you know this?"

"Because I overheard them talking about it when I was fifteen. I heard Dad on the phone with someone, reporting on your 'progress.' About how the suppression spells were holding, how you showed no signs of awakening. I thought it was a dream until recently before the rogue attack."

Ryder's hands clenched into fists at his sides. "I've been carrying this secret for a while. Remembering how they always abused you while knowing they were the ones who destroyed your real family."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I was a coward," he admitted, his voice thick with self-loathing. "I was afraid of what would happen to me if they found out I knew. I told myself I was protecting you by staying quiet, but really I was just protecting myself."

I felt tears prick my eyes, but not from anger.

Despite everything, I could understand his fear.

The Vale family had been cruel to all of us in different ways.

"Ryder, it's not your fault —"

"No." He turned from the window, his expression fierce with determination.

"I was old enough to know right from wrong, old enough to investigate, old enough to know it wasn't a dream, old enough to help you or at least try to get you away from them. Instead, I stood by and watched while they slowly crushed your spirit year after year."

"You did help me," I protested.

"You were the only kindness I had in that house."

"It wasn't enough. It was never enough." He moved closer, his voice dropping to an urgent whisper.

"But I can help you now, Aria. I can tell you the truth about who you really are, where you really came from."

My breath caught. "You know about my real parents?"

"Some of it. Your mother was Elena Moonwhisper, from one of the most powerful Lumina bloodlines in history. Your father was Darius Sunweaver, a high-ranking member of the Summer Court fae. Their union was supposed to bring peace between the supernatural factions, but there were those who saw it as a threat to the existing power structure."

The names resonated in my chest like struck bells, awakening something deep in my blood that recognized its origins.

"The Umbra?"

"Among others. Your parents went into hiding when you were born because there were multiple factions that wanted you dead or wanted to control you. They thought they could keep you safe, but..."

He spread his hands helplessly."But someone found them anyway."

"Victor was paid to take you in and suppress your abilities until you came of age. The plan was to deliver you to the highest bidder when your powers fully manifested."

Ryder's voice turned bitter.

"Except you awakened sooner than expected, and now everyone wants a piece of you."

I sank into a chair, overwhelmed by the magnitude of what he was telling me.

"So the Lumina representatives who are coming today..."

"Might be genuine, or might be another faction trying to claim you. There's no way to know for certain."

He knelt beside my chair, his expression earnest.

"Aria, I know I don't have the right to ask anything of you after staying silent for so long, but please don't make any hasty decisions. Don't let them rush you into anything just because you're hurt and confused."

"What choice do I have? Alpha Kael has made it clear he wants me gone, Lyra is actively working against me, and half the pack is afraid of me."

"You have more choices than you think,"

Ryder said firmly.

"And more allies than Lyra wants you to believe."

Before I could ask what he meant, the door burst open without warning.

Reena stood in the doorway, her cold grey eyes blazing with fury and something that looked disturbingly like jealousy.

"Well, well, well," she said, her voice dripping with venom.

"Isn't this touching? My pathetic brother running to comfort the freak who nearly destroyed the pack house."

"Reena, get out," Ryder said sharply, rising to his feet.

"Why? So you can continue your little pity party?" She stepped into the room uninvited, her gaze fixed on me with undisguised hatred.

"I heard about your conversation with Lyra yesterday. Finally someone told you the truth about where you stand here."

"Leave her alone," Ryder warned, moving protectively between us.

"Or what? You'll defend your precious foster sister like you always have?"

Reena's laugh was sharp and cruel.

"Face reality, Ryder. She's not family, she never was family and now that everyone knows what a dangerous freak she is, she never will be family."

"Stop it," I said quietly, standing up despite the way my legs trembled.

"Stop what? Telling the truth?" Reena's eyes glittered with malicious satisfaction.

"You want to know what I think? I think you should absolutely go with the Luminas. Get as far away from here as possible and stop pretending you belong somewhere you clearly don't."

"That's enough!"

Ryder's voice cracked like a whip, carrying an authority I'd never heard from him before.

"You will not speak to her like that, not now, not ever."

"Why are you defending her?" Reena demanded, her composure cracking slightly.

"She's not worth it! She's not worth any of the trouble she's caused!"

"She's worth more than you'll ever understand," Ryder said firmly.

"And unlike you, she has never been deliberately cruel or malicious to anyone in her entire life."

"How noble of you to finally grow a spine," Reena sneered.

"Too bad it's twenty years too late to matter."

With that parting shot, she stormed out, leaving Ryder and me alone with the echoes of her venom hanging in the air.

"I'm sorry," Ryder said immediately.

"I'm sorry for her, for our parents, for all of it."

"It's not your fault."

"Isn't it? I've stood by and watched you be treated like this for years. I should have done something sooner, should have been braver, should have—"

"Should have what?" I interrupted gently.

"Been a different person? Made different choices? Ryder, you can't change the past, and I don't blame you for surviving the only way you knew how."

"But I can do better now," he said with quiet determination.

"Starting with this." He pulled a small wrapped package from his jacket pocket.

"This belonged to your real mother. I... I stole it from Dad's..Victor's safe years ago, but I was too afraid to give it to you before now."

With trembling hands, I unwrapped the package to reveal a delicate silver pendant in the shape of a crescent moon.

The moment my fingers touched the metal, warmth spread through my entire body and I heard the faintest whisper of a woman's voice saying my name with infinite love.

"She wore it the night she died," Ryder said softly.

"Victor kept it as some kind of trophy, but I thought... I thought you should have something that was truly yours."

Tears streamed down my cheeks as I fastened the pendant around my neck.

It settled against my skin like it belonged there, like it had been waiting all these years to come home.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"For this, for the truth, for everything."

"I'm going to do better, Aria. I swear to you, from now on, I'm going to stand up for what's right."

His grey eyes blazed with new determination.

"Whatever you decide about the Luminas, whatever you choose to do, you won't face it alone. Not anymore."

"What about your family? Your pack status? If you go against Victor and Nadine—"

"Then I'll face those consequences," he said simply.

"Some things are more important than self-preservation. You've always known that – maybe it's time I learned it too."

As he prepared to leave, giving me time to process everything he'd revealed, I touched the pendant at my throat and felt a surge of strength I hadn't experienced since my awakening.

Maybe Lyra was wrong. Maybe I did have more choices than I'd realized.

Maybe it was time to stop letting other people decide my fate and start fighting for what I really wanted.

The question was, did I have the courage to stay and fight for a place where half the people feared me and the man I cared about was pushing me away?

Or would it be wiser to accept the Luminas' offer and start fresh somewhere new?

My mother's pendant seemed to pulse with warmth against my skin, as if offering comfort for whatever decision lay ahead.

For the first time since waking up in the medical wing, I felt like I might actually have a choice in determining my own future.