Chapter 45: ⁴⁵: Secrets unfold

I shook my head, forcing the tears gathering in my eyes back before they could fall.

"Nothing," I whispered. "Let’s head toward the temple. We have to be careful. Only Master Mayeel can know I’m here."

I took a steadying breath before continuing. "For now, he’s the only person I trust. We shouldn’t risk being seen by anyone else... just yet."

Damian studied my face for a brief moment before giving a silent nod.

Without another word, we carefully made our way through the darkness toward the inner temple.

The night had left most of the temple grounds cloaked in shadows. We moved cautiously, using the massive stone pillars and walls as cover while avoiding the few temple attendants still busy with their chores.

As Damian guided me from one shadow to another, my thoughts drifted back to the place we had just left behind.

The place where everything had ended. The place where the person I had trusted most had betrayed me.

Harry... The name alone made my chest ache. He had been my future. The man who was supposed to become my mate... my life partner.

The one I had dreamed would stand beside me through every joy and every hardship.

I had wanted him to become my greatest strength. Instead... He became the one who took everything from me.

I had convinced myself that hatred would make me strong enough to face him again.

I believed my anger would be enough to stop me from breaking.

But standing so close to the place where it had all happened had shattered that illusion.

The wounds in my heart were nowhere near healed. Perhaps they never had been. It hurt more than I wanted to admit.

It was difficult to accept that the relationships I had once treasured more than my own life had now turned to nothing but ashes, burned away by the flames of betrayal.

"Athena." Damian’s whisper beside me pulled me out of my thoughts. "I can sense someone behind those doors."

I blinked, forcing myself back to the present.

Looking around, I realised we were hidden behind one of the enormous stone pillars inside the temple.

"Those are Master Mayeel’s quarters," I whispered back. "He should be inside at this hour."

Damian nodded before carefully scanning the corridor.

His sharp eyes followed the movements of every servant, silently calculating the perfect moment for us to move without drawing attention.

A few tense moments passed. Finally... The hallway emptied.

"Now," Damian murmured.

Without wasting another second, we sprinted across the corridor.

My heart pounded wildly in my chest as we rushed toward the wooden doors. Thankfully, they weren’t locked from the inside.

Damian quietly pushed one of them open just enough for us to slip through before gently closing it behind us.

I let out the breath I hadn’t realised I was holding. "Thank goodness..." I whispered, placing a hand against my racing heart. "Nobody saw us."

"Athena...?"

A familiar voice, filled with disbelief, echoed from somewhere behind me.

"Is that you, child?"

The moment I heard it, every muscle in my body froze. Hope... Relief... Comfort... Emotions I had been desperately holding back all came rushing to the surface at once.

I turned around quickly, my eyes instinctively searching for the one person I had prayed would be fine.

"Yes, Master Mayeel!" I exclaimed the moment my eyes fell upon the elderly man.

A wave of emotion washed over me.

The feeling of finally seeing someone from my own pack again, someone familiar, someone I trusted was almost surreal. It felt as though an enormous invisible weight that had been pressing against my heart ever since my fall had suddenly been lifted.

For the first time since everything had happened... I truly felt like I was home.

"What...?" Master Mayeel whispered, his voice trembling with both shock and overwhelming joy.

"You’re alive, my child!"

He hurried toward me, his eyes scanning me from head to toe as though trying to convince himself I wasn’t an illusion.

"How are you? Where have you been all this time?" His voice quivered with emotion. "You have no idea how relieved... how happy I am to see you again, my child."

My vision blurred. I hadn’t realised how desperately I had needed to hear those words until now.

There were no words capable of describing the hope blooming inside me at that moment.

Someone still cared. Someone had been worried about me. I wasn’t alone after all.

"I’m fine, Master Mayeel," I replied softly.

I glanced back at Damian, who was quietly watching us with a gentle smile.

"I’ve been staying in a safe place... with really good people." I smiled faintly before looking back at Master Mayeel. "You don’t have to worry about me anymore."

His tense shoulders finally relaxed a little.

But there was one question that had been tormenting me ever since I woke up in Damian’s pack. I had to know.

"What I want to know..." I said, my expression turning serious, "...is what happened after that day."

The room fell silent. "After Harry stabbed me..." My voice faltered for a brief moment before I forced myself to continue. "...and threw me off this cliff to my death..."

I clenched my fists. "What happened after that? What did he do? I want to know everything."

Master Mayeel stared at me as though he hadn’t heard me correctly. His face slowly drained of colour.

"Harry... stabbed you?" he asked in disbelief. "But... but he..."

He stopped mid-sentence. His eyes shifted toward Damian before lowering to our hands.

Only then did I realise... Damian was still holding my hand.

Without thinking, I gently slipped my hand out of his grasp.

"He was the one who saved me," I explained. "You can speak freely in front of him."

I turned toward Damian and gave him a grateful smile.

For a brief second, his fingers curled into a loose fist after I let go, but he quickly slipped his hand into his pocket. He gave Master Mayeel a respectful nod.

"Yes," he said calmly. "You can say whatever you need to in front of me. I won’t cause any trouble."

"Very well." Master Mayeel nodded slowly.

Before speaking another word, he hurried toward the entrance and carefully closed the wooden doors. He slid the lock into place before glancing cautiously around the room, as though afraid someone might be listening from outside.

Only after making sure we were completely alone did he motion for us to sit near the old wooden desk occupying the centre of the room.

The atmosphere suddenly grew much heavier.

Once all three of us were seated, Master Mayeel drew in a slow breath.

"Harry told us a completely different story from yours, Athena," he began quietly.

A knot immediately formed in my stomach.

"He told everyone that when he sensed something was wrong, he rushed to the cliff to check on you."

Master Mayeel’s expression darkened.

"And when he arrived..."

"He claimed that you had already been killed by a group of rogues."

ZUV

Hey! Do you want the next Chapter to be the one explaining what happened here or back to where we had left Kael and Athena alone?