Chapter 8
Chapter 8
DANTE’S POV
What?!
What the hell was Aria thinking? Princess of the Blood Moon Kingdom? It was absurd, Impossible!! She had to be lying.
I looked around the room, taking in the shocked faces of the pack members. Even my mother, who was usually so composed, looked like she had been slapped.
*This is ridiculous,” I muttered under my breath. But as watched, I saw something change in the room. The disbelief on the face of the people was slowly transforming into something else. Shock. And then… fear?
No. They couldn’t possibly believe her. Aria was… well, she was just Aria. The girl I had found wandering in the woods, half-starved and scared out of her mind. She wasn’t a princess. She couldn’t be.
with a However, Aria wasn’t done talking. She looked around the room, meeting everyone’s eyes confidence I had never seen in her before. “Just because I let myself be humiliated, you think I’m she said, her voice steady and strong. “You all really have no idea of the power I hold.”
The silence that followed was deafening. I could feel the tension in the room, thick enough to cut with a
knife.
I couldn’t take it anymore. This stupidity had gone on for far too long.
“Enough!” I shouted, stepping forward. “Aria, cut it out with the nonsense. I’ve had enough of this.. this rubbish.”
To my surprise, instead of backing down, the rest of the pack seemed to support me. Elder Grayson, his face red with anger, pointed a twisted finger at Aria.
“You dare claim to be the Griffith princess?” he spat. “You are nothing but a rogue who never had the right to marry into this family in the first place!”
Murmurs of agreement spread through the crowd. I saw Aria flinch, but she stood her ground.
“That’s right,” my cousin Derek cut in. “If Dante hadn’t insisted on choosing you as his mate, you would have died out there in the woods where we found you
I winced at his words. They were true, but hearing them said out loud like that… it felt wrong somehow.
I loved Aria. I mean, I still love her. She was beautiful, with a body that was to die for, but recently I’ve been feeling a bit… I don’t know, disconnected.
“Shame on you,” Luna Patricia, one of the pack elders, snapped me out of my thoughts. “Shamelessly impersonating the beloved daughter of the Griffith family. Have you no shame?”
As the accusations continued, I watched Aria. I expected to see her crumble, to see the fight go out of her eyes. But instead, she stood even more confidently. To be honest, I was beyond surprised because she was always so quiet.
“I am telling the truth,” she said, her voice cutting through the noise. “Do you really think I would claim this
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Chapter 1
if it wasn’t true? Do any of you have any idea what I’ve given up to be here?”
For a moment, just a moment, I felt a flicker of doubt. Could she actually be telling the truth?
But then I shook it off. No. It was impossible. I knew Arja. Or at least, I thought I did.
“Aria,” I said, trying to keep my voice gentle. “Please, just stop. This isn’t helping anyone.”
She turned to look at me then, and the pain in her eyes hit me. “You don’t believe me either, do you, Dante? *she said softly.
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. What could I say?
“Of course he doesn’t believe you,” my mother snapped. “No one in their right mind would believe such an outrageous lie.”
Aria’s eyes never left mine. “Is that true, Dante?” she asked. “After everything we’ve been through, you really think I would lie about this?”
I felt torn. Part of me wanted to defend her, to stand by her side like I had promised to do when we got married. But another part… another part couldn’t believe what she was saying.
“I… I don’t know what to think,” I admitted.
The hurt that flashed across Aria’s face made me want to take back my words immediately. But before I could say anything else, Elder Grayson stepped forward, his aged face serious.
“I think it’s time we put this nonsense to rest,” he said, his voice echoing in the now–silent room. “I have some information that might interest you all.”
I noticed Aria tense up, her eyes narrowing as she turned to face the elder.
“What kind of information?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
H
Elder Grayson’s lips curved into a cold smile. “Well, my dear, it just so happens that I have a close friend in the Griffith pack. And he tells me some very interesting things about their Alpha’s daughter.”
The tension in the room increased even more. I could practically sense everyone holding their breath.
“You see,” Elder Grayson continued, “the Griffith family’s Alpha King’s only beloved daughter has never left her own pack. She is heavily guarded, day and night.”
Whispers broke out around the room. I saw doubt creeping into the faces of those who had started to
believe Aria’s claim.
“And that’s not all,” Luna Patricia added. “I have heard that aside from the wolves who know her personally, no one has ever seen what she looks like. She’s practically a ghost.”
Aria had this small smile on her face that made me wonder if she had somehow lost her mind.
“Oh, but there’s more,” Elder Grayson said, his voice dripping with satisfaction. “The Griffith princess is known for something very special. She usually designs items that are blessed by the Moon Goddess
herself.”
A collective gasp went through the room. Even I felt a jolt of surprise. Items blessed by the Moont Goddess were incredibly rare and powerful.
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“These items,” Luna Patricia added, “are so valuable that it is nearly impossible for anyone to even lay eyes on them. Even if one were to spend a fortune, they would not be able to obtain the items she creates.
I looked at Aria, hoping to see any sign that these revelations were affecting her. But her face was a mask. “So you see,” Elder Grayson said, turning to address the whole room, “it is clear that this girl couldn’t possibly be who she claims to be. The real Griffith princess is safely tucked away in her pack, creating miracles blessed by the Moon Goddess herself.*
The room erupted in angry shouts and accusations. I heard words like “liar” and “fraud” being thrown around. Aria stood in the middle of it all, looking smaller by the second.
She looked at me, and for a moment, I saw a flash of the girl I had fallen in love with vulnerable, honest, and so damn brave.
Elder Grayson took a step closer to her. “You’re nothing but a fraud, trying to claim a title that doesn’t belong to you”
“Exactly,” Luna Patricia added. “A real princess wouldn’t abandon her pack, wouldn’t hide who she is. You’re just a foolish girl playing dress–up.”
I watched as each word hit Aria like a physical blow. I really wanted to step in, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to be seen as weak. After all, she was embarrassing me!
