CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE: THE THING SHE FEARS MOST

The threat did not come with violence.

That was what frightened Aria the most.

It arrived quietly, wrapped in normalcy, delivered through routine channels that had existed long before war or power ever touched her life. Luca received the call while standing beside her in the upper hall, his expression shifting so subtly that only someone bonded to him could have noticed.

Aria felt it immediately.

“What is it?” she asked.

Luca ended the call slowly. His jaw was tight, his shoulders rigid. “They intercepted a convoy outside the northern gate.”

Her heartbeat stuttered. “Whose?”

“Mine,” he replied. “Unmarked. Carrying nothing valuable. Just a message.”

Her blood went cold. “Did anyone get hurt?”

“No,” he said. “That is the point.”

The message arrived minutes later.

Not written. Not spoken.

A location.

A time.

A reminder that restraint could be exploited just as easily as rage.

“They want me to go,” Luca said quietly. “Alone.”

Aria’s hands curled into fists. The room felt smaller, the walls pressing inward as her power stirred uneasily beneath her skin.

“No,” she said immediately. “You are not walking into a trap.”

Luca turned to her, his gaze steady. “If I do not go, they escalate. They make it public. They force your hand.”

“That is exactly what she wants,” Aria replied sharply. “She wants to prove that loving you makes me weak.”

Luca stepped closer, lowering his voice. “Or she wants to prove that you cannot protect both the city and the man you love.”

The words cut deep because they echoed her own fear.

Aria turned away, pacing slowly as she fought the rising surge inside her. Her instincts screamed for action. For dominance. For obliteration of every threat that dared breathe near him.

She stopped abruptly.

“That is the test,” she whispered. “She wants me to lose control.”

Luca reached for her hand, grounding her. “Then we do not give her that.”

Aria met his eyes. “You will not go alone.”

“I know,” he said. “But the council will not agree to an open response.”

As if summoned by the thought, a messenger entered with urgent news. The council was already convening.

They did not waste time with formalities.

“This situation is unacceptable,” the eastern leader snapped. “Your attachment has compromised security.”

Aria felt the familiar pressure build. “My attachment has prevented bloodshed.”

“For now,” another countered. “Your mother is baiting you through him. That makes him a liability.”

Luca surged forward. “Choose your next words carefully.”

The elder raised a hand. “Enough. Aria, we cannot allow a personal bond to endanger the city.”

The unspoken words hung heavy.

Remove him.

Or remove her authority.

Aria’s chest tightened painfully.

“You are asking me to choose,” she said slowly.

“We are asking you to prioritize,” the elder replied.

Silence fell.

Aria closed her eyes briefly.

When she opened them, her voice was calm. “Then listen carefully. Luca will not be used as bait. He will not be sacrificed to make you feel secure. And I will not sever my bond to appease fear.”

The eastern leader scoffed. “Then you leave us no choice.”

Aria stepped forward, power pressing outward in controlled waves. Not crushing. Not violent. Absolute.

“You will not move against him,” she said. “And you will not undermine me.”

The elder studied her intently. “You tread a dangerous line.”

“I live on it,” Aria replied.

The meeting ended with no resolution.

That night, the city felt wrong. Too quiet. Too watchful.

Aria stood on the balcony with Luca, the wind tugging at her hair as she stared out over the lights below.

“She will not stop,” Luca said softly. “Not now.”

“I know,” Aria replied. “She believes love will break me.”

He turned toward her. “Will it?”

Aria looked at him, truly looked at him. The man who had stood beside her through power she barely understood. Through fear. Through grief.

“No,” she said. “But it will cost me something.”

A sharp sensation cut through her senses.

Movement.

Too close.

Aria spun just as the world fractured.

The balcony exploded in a surge of force, glass shattering outward as masked figures emerged from the shadows. Wolves. Trained. Focused. Not hybrids.

Assassins.

Luca moved instantly, pulling Aria back as steel flashed through the air. She felt the snap inside her then. The final restraint tearing loose.

Power roared to the surface.

The attackers froze mid-motion, bodies locking as if time itself had clenched its fist around them. Aria stood at the center of it, eyes blazing, breath ragged.

“No,” Luca said sharply. “Aria, stop.”

She trembled, fighting the surge. She could end them all in a heartbeat. Erase the threat permanently.

And prove her mother right.

Aria screamed, not in rage, but in defiance, forcing the power down inch by inch. The assassins collapsed unconscious, alive.

Silence followed.

Aria sagged, Luca catching her instantly.

“I almost lost it,” she whispered.

“But you did not,” he said fiercely. “You chose.”

She clutched his shirt, shaking. “She will keep pushing until one of us breaks.”

Luca held her close. “Then we stand together until she runs out of moves.”

Far away, unseen, a woman watched through borrowed eyes, lips curving in satisfaction.

Good.

Aria was finally close to the edge.

And the most dangerous choices were yet to come.