Page 16 of Mantle

Cornelius was already keeping his eye on him, so he observed it instantly, and then he was calling him over to have a word. Situation diffused.

The dragon settled right away with him no longer within physical reach of Ari.

I studied the boys’ interaction with her.

“They worship her,” a lovely voice came from beside me, and I turned to see Mia had teleported right beside me.

She sank her hands into the pockets of her wool coat and nuzzled against me.

“They do, yes. And they’re deferring to her needs.”

“Will Calla be here soon?”

“A few minutes. She had to mix the elixir that we need to give Ari before we can draw out the blood that Ketheron fed her.”

She nodded. “Otherwise we won’t be able to extract the fusion of his blood against hers.”

“Right. We need to know how it works against hers.”

“She didn’t want it out at all. She was willing to risk it remaining in her system so she could study its effects and gain a better understanding of Ketheron. But not just from a strategic standpoint. She made a connection to him as well. It wasn’t one-sided. Did you see?”

“I did.”

“I’m worried. With the Celestial Plane’s known penchant for multi-level manipulation, they could have created him with that intent… to have her bond with him in some way so that she lets her guard down.”

“Until we have the results of the test, we can’t know for certain.ButI don’t think they infused any sort of connection into his creation. They aren’t emotional beings, for one. I highly doubtconnectionin that sense would have even crossed their minds.”

“Cassius has displayed emotions. And even care for Ariana.”

“And Cornelius informed us that he discovered that Cassius is out of favor with them as a result of that sort of caring approach. He’s an outlier, not the standard by any means.” I wrapped my arm around her, feeling her panic for Ariandher own trauma driving her thought process on this. “Also, keep in mind that the connection we saw between them was rooted in them both beingusedby the Celestial Plane. It’s not like a mating bond. It’s in something very grounded.”

“It’s not the same,” she murmured. “Not the same as what happened to me.”

“No, sweetness, it really isn’t.”

“And Ariana isn’t me.”

“She has her own separate journey. And look at her… she’s shaken, sure, but she’s standing strong. She’s ready. You know it as well. You were there when she controlled her power, there with her boyfriends, seeing all of that. This Celestial-created threat emerging today is just triggering your own trauma with Draco and it’s clouding the reality.”

“Yeah,” she murmured. “I know. She’s strong. So very strong.”

“It’s your time now.”

That was what I’d told Ari when I’d invited her up to the Guardian Compound.

And I’d meant it. I’d wanted that for her, for her finally to be empowered, to come into herself.

But on her own terms.

Not because of the duty that the Celestial Plane had forced on her.

Not because of this threat now.

More than anything, I’d wanted her to be free to make her own choices, to carve out her own path in life.

Something that had been denied her mom.

We all wanted better for Ariana.

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