177: SACRIFICE

SACRIFICE

Aria hugged herself at the corner of her room, she blanched as she recalled the fact that Emma had died because of the strange illness that she suffered.

"No… that's not me. It was not because of me…" She kept repeating the same thing over and over again, as she hugged herself.  Her whole body was trembling violently. She couldn't think straight.

Aria had to use a lot of effort to rein in her guilty feelings, so no one would be suspicious of her, because they must know that the death of a child that she wasn't even fond of wouldn't be able to affect her like this.

When Dalia entered the room after she heard what happened in the orphanage, Aria raised her head and immediately rushed toward her. She couldn't stop shaking, her fear turned into anger.

"What ACTUALLY HAPPENED! HE SAID NOTHING ABOUT THE CHILDREN DYING!" Aria roared and this made Dalia hastily try to calm her down.

"Lower your voice, Mistress, lower your voice, we can't let anyone know about this!" She said in panic, as she kept staring at the door, afraid that it would burst open all of a sudden and they would find out what they had done. "Calm down first."

Dalia held her hand and sat the furious Aria down on the sofa, as she huddled her body again. She hugged herself and her eyes were not focused.

"The child is dead," Aria repeated the words. "The sorcerer said no one will die, those three children are to be sacrificed, but he needs only their souls, but they will not die…"

Out of jealousy, when Cane went to the Moon Dew pack with Iris, Aria and Dalia went to the Riverside pack to meet with a sorcerer. The man claimed that he could sever the mate bond between mates, but said some kind of sacrifice had to be offered.

The sorcerer only said about sacrificing their souls, whatever that meant, not their lives! But one of them died now!

"What if Cane dies…?" Aria couldn't even bear that idea. If something bad indeed happened to Cane and he ended up losing his life, what would she do? How could she live with the fact that she had killed the only person that mattered to her?!

"Mistress…" Dalia tried to urge her to stop panicking, because if someone saw her like this, she would be implicated as well. The punishment would be severe if they were found colluded with the dark magic users, even the royals would get involved in this matter, since dark magic was banned in this continent.

Heavens knew what would happen to them if the people from the palace got involved in this matter.

"Prepare a horse! Quick! I need to go to the Riverside pack!" Aria sprang to her feet.

"Mistress!" Dalia cried out. "If you go now, they will know there is something wrong and if they become suspicious, it will be the end of you! Please consider!" Dalia was so scared.

"Enough!" Aria roared angrily. "Cane can die at any moment!" This reason alone was enough to silence Dalia, she looked aggrieved. She didn't want the Alpha to die either.

"But, the sorcerer said that he will be like this, right?"

"That quack sorcerer said no one will die!" Aria countered. "But, can't you see? A girl already died!"

Aria didn't have any patience left, as she strode out of her bedroom swiftly. She walked so fast, as she raised her dress.

On the other hand, Dalia too panicked hard when she couldn't find Aria. The journey to the Riverside pack would take half a day, which meant Aria would be missing for a whole day. What would she say if someone asked about her whereabouts?

The only way for her right now was to find Bian. She needed to think of a solution! After all, this was her idea!

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Grace and Ardand went to the orphanage to see Emma's body; they hoped they could figure out something after they saw the poor child's corpse.

Meanwhile, without Aria around, Jace couldn't stop Iris when she said that she wanted to check on Cane.

The Beta left her there with Ethan and Will to guard Cane. In case something happened, they needed to rush to inform the healer about it, while he needed to take care of something urgent on behalf of Cane. He needed to take care of the situation in the orphanage too and made sure the news did not leak, just in case it would lead to chaos. 

Ethan leaned over and tapped Iris' arm. "Touching him will not arouse him."

Iris immediately stopped, her eyes widened and there was a tinge of red on her cheeks when she read what he said. "I am not a pervert!" She retorted with a hiss, while Ethan gave her a wolfish grin.

"You keep patting him. Don't take advantage while he is knocked out cold," Ethan couldn't stop teasing her, because the situation was so tense and quiet.

It didn't mean he did not care about Cane's condition, he absolutely did, but everyone had their own way of dealing with the tension.

"I am not!" Iris retorted again, she looked a little bit embarrassed, but her hand still hovered above Cane's shoulder. "I feel… there is something on his shoulder."

Ethan arched his brows. "What do you mean by you feel there is something on his shoulder?"0

Will, who was leaning his body against one of the pillars of this four poster bed, listened to their banter silently. He was very quiet and was deep in thought, as if he had been praying solemnly.

"I don't know, but…" Iris was hesitant, her finger brushed on his shoulder again, over the same spot that Aria had pricked Cane. "There is something here…"

Ethan glanced at Will, who was frowning as well.

"What do you mean there is something there? What is in there?" Ethan leaned over, his expression became serious.

Iris bit her lip, she was thinking hard about it before she spoke. "There is a shard of magic stone there."

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