CHAPTER 107: WEARING A MASK...

Rick stared at the bottle in his hand, barely breathing.

It was cold against his palm, and yet his whole body felt like it was burning from the inside out. He turned the vial slowly, reading the prescription again and again, like it would somehow change.

But it didn’t; the same abortion medication stared back at him.

His mind was reeling like crazy. Alia had said... she’d miscarried. She had cried, screamed, and nearly torn her own hair out. She’d blamed Emerald, sworn that she was pushed, sworn that the baby was ’taken’ from her.

So why did she have this?

Suddenly, he heard footsteps echoing from down the corridor.

Rick’s heart jumped. In one fluid movement, he shoved the bottle back into the drawer, slammed it shut, and stepped back just as the door creaked open.

Alia walked in, her heels clicking against the marble floor.

She paused when she saw him.

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "What are you doing in my room?"

Rick swallowed the knot in his throat. "I was waiting for you to return so I could apologise for earlier."

Her gaze lingered on him with an intense and unreadable expression. Then she folded her arms. "Don’t bother. You’ve clearly got your thoughts full of Emerald again."

Rick didn’t reply right away. He was trying hard to stay composed. "I just... wanted to talk."

"Oh?" Alia’s voice dripped with bitterness. "About how you shoved me off like I was nothing? Or how your eyes have been a thousand miles away for weeks?"

Rick exhaled. "Things aren’t what you think."

Her eyes flashed. "Aren’t they? Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you’re doing everything short of carving Emerald’s name into your damn skin."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I’m not leaving you for her if that is what’s bothering you."

Alia’s jaw tensed, but she said nothing at first. Then, after a moment of dramatic silence, she walked past him.

"Fine," she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "You’re here. You came to apologise. Great. I accept."

She glanced at him. "Now, stay with me, just for a little while."

He looked at her.

"I’ve been feeling lonely," she added softly, her voice changing tones. "It’s been hard since... you’ve been distant. And I miss you."

Rick hesitated, then nodded once. "Alright."

Alia pulled him toward the bed, settling into his chest like nothing had happened. She rested her head on his shoulder, her fingers playing lazily with the buttons on his shirt.

"I don’t hate her, you know," she said suddenly.

Rick blinked. "What?"

"Emerald," Alia replied. "I don’t hate her. Not really. I just... can’t forgive her. Not after what happened. After what she took from me."

Rick stayed still.

"She killed our baby," Alia whispered. "Even if it wasn’t on purpose... it was because of her."

His jaw clenched. "I know."

"I see the way you look at her," she said. "You try to hide it, but it’s there. And I try not to let it get to me, I really do... but every time I see you soften for her, it just rips open something I thought was healing."

Rick rubbed her shoulder gently. "I understand. I do. That’s why I... banished her. Why I punished her, right in front of the entire pack... why I did everything I did back then. I thought... it was what you needed."

Alia nodded into his chest. "It helped. For a while."

A long silence passed.

Then Rick spoke quietly. "Can I ask you something?"

"Hmm?"

"That day... the day it happened. You never really told me how it happened. You just said she pushed you. But what really happened, Alia?"

She stiffened slightly. "Why do you want to talk about that now?"

"I don’t know," Rick said, lying. "I just... I’ve never asked. I should’ve."

Alia pulled away slightly, just enough to look at him. "It was traumatic."

"I know. I’m sorry. I just want to understand."

She looked down at her lap for a moment, biting her lip. Then she nodded slowly.

"It was a fight," she said. "I came into the training grounds because she was arguing with one of the scouts. I tried to talk to her to calm her down. She... snapped."

"Snapped how?"

"She yelled, started calling me a manipulator. Then accused me of trying to steal you." Alia looked at him pointedly. "Which I wasn’t. You and I already had a connection. I mean... I was pregnant with your child. There was nothing to steal."

Rick nodded slowly. "Then what?"

"She shoved me. I lost my footing. I hit the ground, hit my belly against the tree stump. That was it. That’s all I remember until you came and I started bleeding, and then I was taken to the infirmary where they told me the baby was gone."

Her voice cracked near the end.

Rick held her, but his mind... wasn’t with her anymore.

His eyes flicked again to the drawer, the one with the bottle... the bottle that was now only half full.

His arms tightened around her without realizing it.

Alia made a small sound of discomfort. "Rick..."

He snapped back. "Sorry."

For a brief moment, her expression changed slightly. It was barely noticeable, but Rick saw it. Just a tiny slip in her flawless appearance, like a crack in a piece of porcelain.

And for the first time, he really saw her. Maybe it was always there, or maybe he had just been too blind to notice.

She was wearing a mask. She wasn’t crying or angry; she was cold and calculating.

In that moment, Rick thought about confronting her. He wanted to tell her what he had discovered and demand the truth.

But something held him back.

He didn’t know what stopped him, maybe it was doubt, or fear, or the gut-wrenching guilt that still clung to him like a second skin.

"I should go," he said instead. "I have things to attend to."

Alia looked at him with a faint smile. "Of course."

Rick stood.

He felt her gaze burning into his back as he walked out the door. Only when he returned to his room and shut the door behind him did he let out a breath.

He leaned against the wood and closed his eyes.

Everything Emerald had said... everything she had cried and begged him to believe... It had all been true.

Alia lied.

Emerald had been right all along.