Chapter 3 Three

CHAPTER THREE: The Phoenix Inside Me

Aria Quinn POV

I wasn't just surviving anymore. I was becoming. I knew the truth would come soon about Kael, about the witch, about what they turned me into, what they tried to bury. And when that moment came, I'd have to choose. Take my vengeance... Or rise for something greater. But as the man who saw me when I was nothing and believed I was everything. Let the world come for me again. I'd rise higher from the ashes. Because I wasn't Aria Quinn, the broken omega. I was Aria Quinn, the storm. And the world had no idea what kind of omega, I was about to become. Over the weeks that followed, I rebuilt myself piece by shattered piece. I didn't trust easily. He didn't ask me to. The palace staff tried to treat me like an omega at first. They stopped after the first week. He never gave me a title. Never named me a guest. Never claimed me as a prisoner or project. He just let me be. And in that freedom, I grew. I ate what I could. Spoke to no one. Every step I took felt like walking through molasses, slow, unsure, suffocating. The guards outside my door were silent but always present. Not threatening. Not mocking. Just... watchful. On the seventh day, I snapped. I couldn't take the quiet anymore. The gentleness. The way the servants bowed their heads when they passed me, like I was something holy or haunted. So I went to the training yard. Half-starved. Ribs still healing. Hands shaking. I saw a beautiful lady having a conversation with Ezra, which looks like an argument between them, she looked at my direction as if she was expecting me. "Ohhh, so you are Aria, the rejected Luna, mind my language, it's really nice to meet you, I'm Nyra thorne, the princess of this land," She said immediately and approached me with a smile. Ezra reacted to her words but didn't say anything. I smiled back, pretending her words didn't get to me, " it's also nice to meet you too, Princess Nyra." "Why are you here, you should be in bed, your wounds are still healing," Ezra said. "I'm just tired of staying in bed all day, I needed some fresh air and I need a sword." "Woow, I have been looking for a female to fight with and here you are, come, I'd train you," Nyra said and pulled my hand gently. Ezra arched an eyebrow and asked me. "You sure?" "Do I look unsure?" He grinned. "You look like you've been through hell." "I have" I said, clutching the hilt of my blade while Nyra grinned even wider. "And I'm ready to go back swinging." We positioned ourselves as Ezra watched as we raised our sword, Nyra didn't pity me. That was the first reason I didn't hate her. The second, she tried to knock me flat. And I fought back. Every movement hurt. Every breath was fire. But I didn't stop. I couldn't stop. Because every time the sword connected with mine, I remembered Kael's voice telling me I was weak. I remembered Selene's smirk. The rejection. The bruises. The chains. And with every strike, I carved a piece of myself back from the grave they'd buried me in. Nyra didn't take it easy. And by the time I dropped to my knees, drenched in sweat and bleeding from a split lip. Ezra tossed me a towel. "You've got something in you, omega." "Don't call me that," I snarled. He cocked his head. "Then what should I call you?" I stood, wiping the blood from my mouth. "Aria. Just Aria." Nyra nod. But in my heart... I knew that name was changing. The moon was full that night. And I felt it, as if it were on my very skin, as if it were pulling something out of me. Something that didn't belong to Kael. Something ancient. I couldn't sleep. So I walked. Through the palace halls, through the whispering shadows, until I found the balcony overlooking the northern cliffs. The sea raged below. The wind howled like a pack of a thousand wolves. I stood there, barefoot and shaking; wrapping my arms around myself as flashbacks attacked me. "You let him die" a voice in my mind hissed. "You weren't strong enough." "He didn't want you. No one will." I shut my eyes tight. "Stop." But it didn't stop. It never did. Until a different voice came. Not from inside. From behind. "Why do you let their ghosts live in your mind?" I didn't have to turn to know it was him. Ronan. He never came too close. It was like he knew I wasn't ready to be touched. Like he understood everything. I grit my teeth. "Because they made me this way." "No," he said softly. "They made you who you were." I turned then, anger flaring. "And who am I now, King? Your charity case? A broken little wolf with no pack, no mate, and no place in this world?" His eyes did not waver. "You're a woman who walked through fire and didn't burn." "You're not broken, Aria. You're becoming." Becoming. The word hit me like a blade wrapped in silk. Becoming what? I didn't ask. Because deep down... I already knew. Later that night, something changed. The moon. The rage. The need. But I felt something implode under my skin. My heart sped, slowing then speeding again to match a not-mine-beat. I collapsed to the floor, gasping. My body writhed in agony as power surged through me, hot and molten. Visions assaulted my mind's eye. A throne carved from obsidian. A crown of moonfire hovering above my head. Werewolves bowing, not from fear, but loyalty. And at the center of it all... me. Aria Quinn. No longer the omega. No longer the forgotten. A queen. A force. My fingers crackled with light. My veins shimmered. My eyes, when I looked into the mirror across the room were glowing with a light I didn't recognize. I thought I'd scream. Instead, I laughed. Because for the first time since Kael broke me... I didn't feel afraid. I felt alive. The next morning, I was in the center of the courtyard. Wearing black. No jewelry. No veil. Just me. Ezra watched me warily. The guards murmured. And Ronan? He was on the balcony, his arms folded over his chest. But I saw the fire in his eyes. He felt it too. The shift. The storm. The queen awakening inside me.