Chapter 50

Aria’s POV

“A debt is unnecessary,” I said, and looked away, not wanting to look at him anymore.

Looking at him, my heart raced. Would he be saying these things if he knew I was Aria?

My feelings for Lucian were overwhelming. His gesture of thanks meant a lot to me, but I was still angry with him about our arguments lately. Above all, I was just so tired from everything that happened today.

“Excuse me, Lucian,” Silas said, moving closer to my side. “Would you mind if I borrowed Dr. A for a while? It has been some time since we last spoke and I’m eager to catch up with my old apprentice.”

Relief flooded through me at this opening for escape. Lucian seemed disappointed, like he wanted to speak more with me, but after glancing between Silas and me, he eventually nodded.

“Very well. I wouldn’t want to intrude,” Lucian said.

“We can speak in my office,” I told Silas and then turned to lead the way without saying goodbye to Lucian.

Silas waved at him. “We’ll talk later, Alpha King.”

“Of course,” Lucian replied.

Silas then fell into step with me. For the entire duration of our few minute walk back to my office, he didn’t say a single word. He just walked along peacefully, a gentle smile on his face.

Only when we were safely behind the closed door to my personal office, did he finally speak again.

“That was good work today, Aria.”

Slowly, I removed my mask and lowered it down to the desk.

Silas smiled wider, seeing my true face.

“You haven’t aged a day,” he said.

That wasn’t true, of course, but it was kind of him to say so.

“Do you mind if I sit down?” I asked.

“No, please do. You’ve had a long day.”

Leaving my mask on the corner of the desk, I moved to my chair and sat. Silas walked closer. Lifting my mask, he turned it over in his hands, thoroughly inspecting it.

“Still using this same disguise, I see,” he said.

“It’s served me well.”

Silas hummed.

During the invention of the life-saving medicine, I had noticed that people began to look at me differently. Either in jealousy of my ability or my medicine, I wasn’t sure, but it had become increasingly obvious as time went by, that to live my best life while also being the best Healer I could be, I needed to take on a persona.

Silas had been there then, my mentor. When I’d confided in him my plans, he had helped me every step of the way, ensuring that Aria was scrubbed from most of the records, and Dr. A replaced her. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without his help.

It was something of a comfort, talking to him now. Very few people knew the truth about me, fewer still that I fully trusted. Silas and Cathy were at the top of my most-trusted list, with Piper close behind. Jasper was at the bottom.

“I must admit to some confusion,” Silas said, lowering the mask back down. He looked at me curiously. “The way Lucian talked to you just now in the hallway, so formal. Why, it was almost as if he doesn’t know who you truly are.”

“He doesn’t,” I said, because Silas already seemed to suspect it.

“You haven’t told your husband?”

I lowered my gaze down to my desk. Some of Caleb’s paperwork was still resting there, his test results on top.

“We’re getting divorced,” I said, confiding in my mentor just as I used to. The years we’d spent apart didn’t seem to matter much anymore. Together again, it was like nothing had changed.

“I haven’t heard anything about that,” Silas replied.

“It hasn’t been announced publically,” I told him. “Lucian is being stubborn and refusing to sign the paperwork.”

Silas sat down in one of the open seats on the other side of the desk. “If I asked you why you want a divorce, would you tell me?”

It was hard to talk about, but this was Silas. With him, even difficult topics came easily. Since I lost my father young, Silas sometimes felt like a father figure to me, or at least the closest to one I’d had until I met Lucian’s parents.

“He doesn’t love me,” I said. “I tried to be a good homemaker, taking care of everything at home so he wouldn’t have to worry. But it felt like the more I tried to be a good submissive wife, the more he pulled away from me.” I sighed. “I think he’s in love with Sheila. I don’t know why he won’t just divorce me so they can be together.”

Silas hummed again, considering. “Why did you never tell him your identity as Dr. A?”

“I thought I put this life behind me when I married Lucian,” I said. “I’ve only returned to it after leaving him. I just need enough money to leave the pack.”

Even as I said it, I wasn’t sure if that was the entire truth anymore. Yes, I still planned on leaving the pack, but… helping Caleb, it was reminding me of why I wanted to be a Healer in the first place.

I wanted to help people. It felt good to finally succeed.

“By not telling Lucian of your past successes, you’ve only ever shown him a part of yourself,” Silas said, redirecting my thoughts back to Lucian. “It seems to me as if you never gave him a chance to fully love you, because you’ve been withholding such a big part of yourself from him.”

“Aria should have been enough,” I said miserably.

“Maybe,” Silas said. “But I suspect you might both be to blame for the collapse of this relationship. Perhaps your Aria side should have been enough, but your inability to reveal the full truth to Lucian says that you never fully trusted him to begin with.”

I tried to see the reason in his words, but it was difficult to see through the hurt.

But why hadn’t I never told Lucian about my life as Dr. A? I’d always made the excuse that I was putting that chapter of my life behind me and dedicating myself fully to my duties as Lucian’s wife. Yet, maybe there was some truth to Silas’s words. Maybe I really didn’t ever totally trust Lucian not to hurt me, and in keeping things from him, I ultimately hurt myself instead.

This was too much to consider. Exhausted, I deflated into my chair, slouching.

“You won’t tell him, will you?” I asked Silas. I worried for a moment. Silas was the president of the World Healers Association, but he was also a member of Nightfall pack. His loyalty should be to his Alpha King.

“Of course not,” Silas said, immediately soothing that worry in me. “I would never betray the confidence of my apprentices, past or present.”

Lucian’s POV

When I stepped outside of the hospital, I wasn’t at all surprised to find that the members of the news media were still there, as if awaiting updates of what was happening within. Surely they’d already been informed of the events, but they still seemed eager as I walked up to the microphone.

In a cacophony of noise, they began shouting questions all at the same time. It was impossible to discern individual voices among the crowd. Not that it mattered. I’d stepped up to these microphones to say something very specific. I didn’t need any shouted questions to prompt me.

“Nightfall pack owes a debt of gratitude to the hard work and diligence of Dr. A…”