Chapter 148: Whose side are you on?
"Fucking idiot," Miranda muttered.
She stood in the middle of the courtyard, her hands clasped behind her back and her eyes closed.
So Henry had tried to betray her. He had forgotten the oath in blood he had taken.
An oath that was sworn to kill if he so much as thought to betray her in any shape or form.
She had not thought him so feeble-minded, and yet here they were.
This was what she got for thinking, even for a second, that she could put her trust in the men around her.
Every task she had to fulfill would have to be done by herself from now on. At least then she would know where she stood.
She inclined her head to the side when she heard footsteps approaching.
Soren stepped into the courtyard and walked toward her.
"You are back," she said flatly.
"I have a question, Miranda."
Miranda’s eyes narrowed at this.
"When did you begin your life in this pack as its priestess?" Soren asked.
Her expression did not change. "Why is this coming up?"
"It is just something I need to know."
"I am not inclined to tell you anything, Soren." She finally turned to face him.
"You are no longer Beta of this pack. You are a traitor to your kind, so what gives you the right to stand before me and question me?"
Soren took another step closer.
"You are being defensive all of a sudden, Miranda."
"I do not know what you are talking about."
She had always hated Soren and his ability to read people. There had been something about him from the very beginning that made her uncomfortable.
Soren looked at her for several seconds.
"If I am being honest, I do not know what I am talking about either."
Miranda’s eyes narrowed further.
"But I remember something." He paused.
"I may not remember a thing, but I seem to remember a certain priestess."
Miranda did not move a muscle as Soren continued speaking.
"Tall. Dark-haired. Like you." His gaze moved over her face. "With eyes like yours."
They stood like that for a moment, staring at each other before Soren’s lips quirked upward.
"You did not wipe out all of my memories, Miranda." he finally said.
He waited for her to deny what he was saying.
If he was being honest, he was only grasping at straws at the moment because there should be no way Miranda was as old as she was if he was right.
But then again, if there is one thing he had learned over the past week, it is to never dismiss the impossible.
He had seen too much of things that should not exist to think for a second that this was far fetched.
Miranda sighed. "You always were such an intuitive child, Soren."
Soren went still.
"How is this possible?" His voice was rough "What the hell is this..." He stopped and Miranda watched the realization slam into him.
"You are like Amara." he said. "You are also a witch."
A slow smile spread across Miranda’s face.
"See?" She tilted her head. "Intuitive."
Soren stared at her, taking a sttep back.
There was no mistaking it now. He had always thought there was something strange about Miranda.
The way she had remained unchanged for years and the fact that no one could remember exactly when she had arrived in the pack.
Everyone simply remembered that she had always been there.
"What do you think Kieran is going to do to you if he finds out what you are. A practitioner of the dark arts?" Soren spat.
Miranda’s smile remained.
"It is only a matter of time before he pieces it together, just as I have done."
"Kieran is a fool." She turned away from him. "And before he does any piecing together, I will have what I want."
Soren’s brows furrowed.
"And what is it you want?"
Miranda glanced over her shoulder.
"Now, now." She smiled. "I cannot tell you that but you would not miss it."
Soren’s mind worked furiously.
With everything he had seen and everything that has happened in this pack... all of it seemed to point to one person.
"Ayla." he said at last.
Miranda’s eyes flickered in surprise.
"It is Ayla, isn’t it?" He watched her carefully. "She is somehow always connected to everything that happens around here. Everything that has happened in this pack in the last moon...she is at the center of all of it."
Miranda did not answer but that was answer enough for Soren.
"What do you want with her?"
Miranda’s expression remained unreadable.
"What do you think Lucius wants with her?" She changed the subject so smoothly that Soren almost missed it.
"I don’t suppose he has let you in on all his plans." She took a slow step toward him. He keeps you at arm’s length, does he not, Soren? Just close enough to be useful, just far enough to be disposable.
Soren did not respond but Miranda knew she was right.
"I will tell you what he wants." she continues. "He wants to use Ayla to bring about the end of the Alpha bloodline as we know it."
"What?"
"A second purge, so to speak." Miranda’s smile was almost amused.
"Where people like Kieran become people like Ayla... the lowest of the chain.The hunted and the owned." She paused.
"So tell me, Soren... what do you think would happen to people like you, Soren? You, who are nothing even now, with the world as it is."
Soren looked stunned, the color drained from his face to a certain degree.
He knew Lucius was planning something sinister when he had said he wanted to use Ayla. He knew there was something bigger behind everything but never in his wildest imagination had he assumed it was this sinister.
The thought of the Alpha bloodline being destroyed was bad enough but a purge?
A complete restructuring of the hierarchy?
That was not rebellion...That was war and it was the kind of war that would not end simply because one Alpha fell.
It would tear apart every pack... the whole world.
Soren stared at her.
"Whose side are you on, exactly?" he asked.
Just then, a guard stepped out of the shadows. Soren immediately recognized him as one of Lucius’s men.
"My Lord Soren." The guard bowed his head. "Alpha Lucius summons you immediately."
Soren’s eyes remained on Miranda. She had not answered his question.