"You are going to mate with Ramona?" Emira asked slowly. "On the night of the Golden Moon?"
Even as she spoke them, the words felt strange to her. As if she were not saying this in reality but in a dream... Or rather a nightmare. And yet, if this was indeed a nightmare and even as the question left her lips, she was certain this could not be true. She had to be mistaken. There had to be some misunderstanding she was not seeing yet.
Why else would they be asking her to leave, no ordering her to leave...
Emira took a deep breath and sent a searching look towards them. They had been angry when she said she wanted to go the Ruins. That much she knew.
They had warned her clearly that if she left, they would not wait for her. But anger was not rejection. A warning was not the same as turning away. And she had returned before the Golden moon... So, why were they ignoring her and pretending to be strangers to her? As if she were just another member of the pack?
Looking at the three faces in front of her now, calm and distant, a sinking feeling settled deep in her stomach. None of them looked surprised by her question. None of them looked defensive or even guilty. And that frightened her more than any harsh words could have.
The fear she had been pushing away slowly began to surface. She was not scared of anything in the world but of losing them...
Then as she stood there forlornly, Zen stepped closer to her.
His voice was quiet when he spoke, "Emira... you promised Lance that if it ever came down to a choice between us and anyone else, you would choose us. Isn’t that so?"
Emira nodded slowly.
"Yes," she said.
She had made that promise. She remembered it clearly. And though it felt as if she had said those words a long time ago, as if an entire lifetime had passed since then, the truth was far simpler and far crueler. It had only been four days since she had made that promise...and already everything had started to unravel...
In return for her promise, she had asked that they let her do what she wanted...
"And yet," Zen continued quietly, his voice steady but heavy, "when it came to staying with us here-when I was barely back from the dead, when YOU were barely back from the dead, when we needed to protect you-what did you do?"
Emira closed her eyes for a moment.
"I told you," she said softly. "I was going to find out the truth."
"It doesn’t matter what you chose instead of us, Emira," he said. "It matters that you did not choose us. That you chose to leave us behind in your search for the truth. That you chose to go alone, to prove the Dark Lord innocent. And to find a way to bring him back.
Emira frowned and shook her head immediately. "But I told you," she said. "I told you what I was doing. I didn’t disappear. I didn’t betray you. You even sent guards after me..."
"Telling us doesn’t make everything right," Zen replied calmly. "Words alone don’t undo choices."
He took a small step back, his gaze never leaving her face. "You went to find out a truth. Then listen to a truth from us as well."
"In all this time we have been together," Zen continued, his voice still controlled, "when have you trusted us enough to let go of your revenge?"
Emira’s breath caught.
"When have you trusted us enough to believe that we would stand up for you?" he asked. "That we would protect you, even if the truth you were searching for terrified us just as much? The truth is that you were never ours... Maybe Emira had slowly to some extent come to us but now, you are Mira as well. And Mira... only belonged to one person. The Dark Master, Aron Mast."
Emira shook her head sharply then," No. No.. You are wrong...."
"Am I wrong? Then tell me, are you willing to kill the dark lord? Even if he was innocent then, he has caused enough havoc to be termed dangerous to the wolves and others. Between the thirst for power between white witches and the dark lord? Since they are bound to each other, why not kill them both?"
Emira’s breath came unevenly as she heard the words. She knew that he would task her with k. "You’re twisting this, Zen. Killing him would be wrong. And by making me cj" she said. "You’re making it sound like I would choose him."
"Won’t you? Then what will you choose Emira? Will you choose us without any conditions Emira? Can you, even now, let go of your revenge. I promise you, I will teach everyone a lesson on your behalf. Be it the dark lord or Aldren. Tell me, Emira, are you willing to choose us without any conditions? The way you expect us to choose you?"
Emira stilled as she looked at them. This was no choice. This was force. They wanted her to prove her love for them by making her choose them.
"And if I choose you, then what? Will you really kill the Grand Witch? The woman who is revered by all the Werewolf packs as the most benign and powerful witch?"
But all she got silence in answer to her questions... And more questions. How did it come to this. When she had returned, she had been so sure of the path ahead. Hoe did everything change to this...
Just as she was about to ask them this, the door to the study opened and in stepped Ramona. She paused and sent a sharp look her way before asking slowly, " I thought you’d let her be captured by the Grand witch. How is she here then?"
What did she mean, let her be captured?