CHAPTER 293: 293: THE ANGRY WIFE

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But suddenly, from behind them, a voice called out. "Aw, I never saw someone cry in happiness before. Sir Kai looks so happy. I wish I had a place in his heart like her."

The words were light, almost wistful. But to Luna’s ears, they came with the sting of an old scar being poked with a stick.

Luna froze. Her arms stiffened around Kai, and her smile —still fresh from reunion— began to wither like frost in fire.

Slowly, her eyes turned toward the voice. The wind, which moments ago had carried the warmth of return, now felt colder, sharper. Almost personal.

And there she stood. Azhara the wild savage rabbit.

Halfway down the slope, standing like she had just wandered out of someone else’s dream and taken a wrong turn into this one. Her long dark hair danced in the mountain breeze. Her hips tilted at a smug angle. Her arms were crossed beneath her chest in a way that was just a little too casual for someone who had once tried to eliminate Luna and Miryam inside the Rift Gate.

She gave a small, sheepish wave, her grin faltering into something apologetic but far from humble. "Hey, Hot Bunny girl."

The nickname hit like a slap.

Luna blinked. Her mouth opened slightly. Then closed. Then opened again as she tried to form words her brain had not yet approved. "...What."

Next to Azhara, Vel and Sha stepped forward, looking both proud and absolutely unsure whether they were supposed to bow or run from her. They felt like a wife caught her husband cheating with them.

Naaro followed behind them, tears streaming down her face as she held up the small cactus in both hands like it was a holy relic.

"They are so loving. Just like I thought, it made me sad to see sir Kai reunion." she sniffled, speaking to the plant. "You said I was crazy. But who’s crazy now?"

Then came Akayoroi, her stride smooth and commanding. The golden light of the mountain caught her crimson silk robes and sculpted her ant lady body into something that looked less like a warrior and more like a divine sculpture that had once been worshipped in temples.

She did not speak. Her eyes merely studied Luna. It was calm. It was measuring. It felt unapologetic.

Lirien was next, her fiery red hair catching the light like a signal flare. Her steps were quiet, and her hands clutched a bundle of glowing gear to her chest like a shield. Her wide green eyes darted to Kai, then to Luna, then to the ground. She looked like she would rather be anywhere else.

And behind them came more. Six additional ant girls. Two identical twins, a little taller than Luna, their heads tilting in perfect unison. They were carrying baskets filled with glittering powder and shells.

Then four more arrived. They were bandaged, limping, but smiling, clearly the injured sisters they found after the frog fight. Each one carried bundles of carefully cushioned ant eggs in their arms like sacred treasure.

Luna’s eyes widened. Her pupils narrowed.

She stared at the growing parade of women behind her husband as if the entire mountain had just grown a second head and started singing trouble for Kai.

Her voice came low. Controlled. Deadly.

"Who are... what is... is that the savage rabbit that tried to murder me and Miryam inside the Rift Gate?"

Azhara lifted her hand again, giving a two fingered wave, her grin trembling under the weight of awkward guilt. "Yeah. Bad times. Bad choices. Rift madness. Definitely a mistake. Sorry about that. Truly."

Kai took a small step forward, clearly trying to calm the storm before it blew his eyebrows off.

"She got better," he offered quickly.

Luna’s neck slowly rotated toward him. "You brought her here?" Her voice was now dipped in velvet and sharpened on stone.

"She’s... reformed."

"You brought her back," Luna repeated, her voice rising a little. "Along with eleven other women. Including one who tried to kill your wife and your daughter."

Kai cleared his throat. "They are loyal to me. All of them. They vowed to serve under me. Swore it on their lives."

Miryam peeked up from his arms, eyes blinking slowly. Then she turned her gaze toward Azhara. And she growled.

The sound was low, wyrmling like, and heavy with the kind of promise that only a baby wyrm could make before biting someone in the thigh.

Even she looked confused. No, not confused. She was offended.

Luna stepped back, slowly, her hands sliding off Kai’s chest. She stared up at him with a look that was not sad, but painfully calm.

"You were gone for a few days."

Kai nodded slowly, realizing too late that he should have chosen his words with a lot more prayer.

She kept going. "And you came back with twelve women."

Kai opened his mouth.

"And one of them tried to murder me."

He closed it again.

Her eyes were shining again, but this time not from joy. Then her voice came in low, tight syllables. "Did you sleep with them?"

Azhara raised her hand. "Maybe."

Kai hissed under his breath. "Shut up."

Luna folded her arms, her shoulders straightening as if a thousand storms were standing behind her spine.

The emotional reunion was over. The loving wife was gone.

Now the angry wife stood in her place. The future hybrid queen. The one who had waited twenty days with her heart in her throat, watching the empty bed chamber.

Now she wanted answers. Now she wanted names. And possibly blood. The entire mountain seemed to go silent.

Vel slowly stepped behind a boulder. Sha prayed to a root. Naaro whispered to her cactus, "Now would be a great time to sprout thorns, little one."

Miryam curled deeper into Kai’s arms, her tiny jaw grinding slightly. Her tail thumped against his chest.

Kai sighed deeply. The kind of sigh that warriors make before battle. He straightened his shoulders and prepared to speak.