Chapter 118 Out of Survival
Devon found Aria in a small room off the east corridor, the only place in the house not overtaken by candles, herbs, and quiet ritual.
Aria sat by the window with a notebook resting loosely in her lap. She was not writing. Just staring at the garden.
“You disappeared,” Devon said lightly as he stepped inside.
“I needed some air,” she replied without looking at him.
“I understand.”
He closed the door behind him and leaned against it for a moment before crossing the room. He studied her carefully, as if measuring how much pressure she could withstand.
“It’s been a crazy couple of days,” he said. “But you need to take it easy. Even machines overheat.”
“I am not a machine.”
“Could have fooled me.”
That earned him the faintest shift at the corner of her mouth.
He noticed immediately. “There. That almost looked like a smile.”
“Don’t exaggerate.”
“I miss it,” he said quietly.
She finally looked at him. “Miss what?”
“You smiling. It changes the whole room when you do.”
She rolled her eyes, but there was warmth in it. “You are dramatic.”
“I know.”
He dropped into the chair opposite her and stretched his legs out. “Remember when you tried to teach Marcus how to arrange the ceremonial herbs and he lined them up like a grocery display?”
Aria huffed a soft breath before she could stop herself.
“And you told him,” Devon continued, mimicking her calm tone, “‘This is not a marketplace, Marcus. It is a sacred space.’”
She laughed.
It surprised both of them.
The sound was small, but real. It lingered in the air for a second before fading.
Devon’s expression softened. “There she is.”
Her laughter quieted. “Don’t get used to it.”
“I would like to,” he said.
A silence followed, not tense but thoughtful.
Devon shifted slightly in his chair. “Can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
“If you never met Kane,” he said carefully, “do you think we would have worked?”
The question landed heavier than his tone suggested.
Aria’s fingers tightened around the notebook. “Devon.”
“I am not asking to complicate anything,” he added quickly. “I just… I need to know if I imagined it.”
She hesitated.
He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. There was no teasing now. Only something raw and exposed in his eyes.
“Be honest,” he said.
She looked at him properly then. Not as her friend. But as a man.
“There was a possibility,” she said quietly. “Yes.”
His breath caught.
“But possibility is not certainty,” she continued. “We might have been good. We might have been terrible. We will never know.”
He nodded slowly, absorbing it.
“Maybe,” he said after a moment, forcing a half smile, “all of this could have been avoided. Kane ends up with Victoria. I end up with you. Everyone neatly paired. No chaos.”
Her expression shifted immediately.
“That is not how life works,” she said, closing herself off.
“I was joking.”
“Do not joke like that.”
He saw the discomfort and leaned back, lifting his hands in surrender. “All right. I will behave.”
Another pause settled between them.
Then he studied her again. “Are you and Kane okay?”
Her gaze sharpened slightly. “Why would you ask that?”
“I have eyes,” he said gently. “There has been distance.”
She looked away, toward the window again.
“I have been grieving,” she said. “Elder Morgana’s death… it hit harder than I expected.”
“I know.”
“And I have been tired.”
“That too.”
But that was not all.
She felt it sitting beneath her ribs. The irritation she refused to name. The quiet anger she kept pressing down.
Victoria.
The pregnancy.
If it’s Kane’s child… when had it happened?
Had he been sleeping with both of them?
Devon watched her silence deepen.
“It is more than grief,” he said softly.
Before she could respond, his phone chimed sharply in his hand.
Both of them startled.
Devon glanced down at the screen. His posture changed immediately.
“What is it?” Aria asked.
“Movement,” he said. “Southern perimeter camera.”
He tapped the notification and opened the live feed.
Aria moved without thinking. She leaned over his shoulder to see the small screen.
The image steadied.
Two figures near the outer gate.
Kane.
The other turned slightly, her posture tense, animated.
Devon narrowed his eyes. “Is that…”
“Yes,” Aria said quietly.
Victoria.
On the screen, their body language was sharp, charged. Kane’s hands moved in controlled frustration. Victoria stepped closer, jabbing a finger toward him.
Devon zoomed in further.
They could not hear the words, but the intensity was clear.
Aria’s pulse began to climb.
She straightened abruptly. “Where is that camera positioned?”
“Outer east gate.”
She was already moving.
“Aria,” Devon called, standing quickly. “Wait.”
But she did not.
By the time she reached the corridor, her calm had fractured into something sharper.
She moved through the house and out into the night, the cool air hitting her face as she followed the path she knew by memory.
The closer she got, the more distinct the voices became.
Victoria’s first.
“You expect me to let you near this child while she stands beside you?”
Kane’s voice followed, low and strained.
“I expect you to do what is right.”
Aria slowed her steps just before rounding the final bend.
Then she heard it clearly.
“Leave her. Publicly. Completely. Marry me. Then you can be a father.”
Aria stopped.
The words settled into her chest like a blade finding its mark.
For a fraction of a second, everything went still.
She did not move. She just listened.
“That is the only way?” Kane asked Victoria.
“Yes.”
He shook his head slowly. “I will not abandon Aria.”
“Then you will never know if the child is yours.”
Aria’s eyes narrowed, her fingers curling into fists. Her mind raced, a flurry of disbelief, fear, and anger. She wanted to step forward. To confront them. To demand answers.
Instead, she inhaled slowly, steadying herself. She looked at Kane, then Victoria, and took in a deep breath, letting the weight of their words settle like stones.
“You would deny a child their father out of spite?” Kane asked.
Victoria’s voice broke. “Out of survival.”
Kane’s restraint cracked. “You are asking me to destroy my family, Victoria. I’m not going to do that.”
“I am asking you to prove that I mattered to you.”
“You mattered.” he said firmly. “But I will not fix one wrong by committing another.”
He took a step back, breath unsteady.
“If the child is mine, I will fight for the right to be in their life. Not by replacing one woman with another.”
“And how exactly would you do that, Kane?”
Aria’s voice was calm. Level. Controlled.
Both of them turned.
Aria stood several paces away. No rush in her breathing. She looked calm and collected. Yet deep down, her heart was racing.