Mia almost instantly regretted having suggested such a thing when she saw the hopeful looks of her interlocutors and the annoyed one of Ethan. He was fundamentally against it, it showed perfectly on his face. However, he did not react immediately. Everyone seemed to be waiting for the Vila's response. Part of her mind secretly hoped he would oppose it. The guilt of choosing their own lives and giving up trying to save their friends would fall on whoever refused to fight. A small voice whispered to her that even if he forbade her, nothing prevented her from going to fight and forcing him to follow her. She preferred to ignore her conscience in favor of a perfect excuse to hide her lack of courage.

And they want someone as cowardly as me to fight alongside them...

"Would you manage to be happy knowing that you sacrificed your friends to stay alive?" Ethan asked him impassively. "I can live with that choice, but you..."

"No," she replied without hesitation. "No, I would blame myself all my life for not even trying to save them and deliberately choosing their death. I don't want to die, but I don't want to be responsible for the death of my loved ones."

And it was true, she would never be able to look at her reflection in the mirror again knowing that she had let her friends sacrifice themselves for her. Because she was too cowardly. How many people would Impervia kill to get them out of hiding? Their lives weren't more important than anyone else's, what right had she to let so many people die so she could hide behind the protection they offered them? The death of her friends would certainly not mark the end of her hunt, their sacrifice would then simply be meaningless.

"I thought you were fiercely opposed to the idea of ​​fighting..." stated Mia.

"I can live with the guilt of a few sacrifices if it's for your protection. On the other hand, if these sacrifices destroy who you are... This guilt, the one that tells me that because of the choice of my Vila your happiness will be tainted, that you find yourself carrying a burden too heavy for your shoulders because of me, I don't want to have to live with. I want you to be happy with me, Mia. I don't want the both of us to be miserable. If fighting is the only option for you to have a chance to be happy in the future, I will."

"Ethan…" she stammered, her eyes moist, leaning down to his level to slip her arms around his neck and embrace him as if her life depended on it. "Thanks."

"So... will you fight alongside us?" Andrey confirmed.

"Yes," affirmed the couple at the same time.

"Very well. The departure is scheduled for tomorrow at nightfall. Zerkan will give you the details of the plan after the meeting. I prefer to warn you, Ellana has planned to use you as bait."

"I thought so," Ethan grumbled with a sigh. "We're still pawns, in the end, aren't we?"

"Don't take it that way, Ethan," Irina said. "Ellana has thousands of lives that depend on her every decision. She doesn't put you in danger out of pure sadism. You can't blame her for prioritizing the survival of her people. These are very difficult decisions to make."

"In the end, we have the same objective now, right?" Mia added. "Irina, we're going to have to speed up the training, I think..."

"Don't bother with the rifle, the keyword will be discretion as much as possible," clarified the wizard. "It is Solomon who guards the school. The later Impervia learns that we are infiltrating it, the later she will send reinforcements. If she has time to deploy her army there, it will turn into a real bloodbath."

"The goal isn't to capture the school?" Mia asked.

"No, only to allow our allies to flee," concluded Andrei, standing up. "With that, see you at the meeting."

The wizard left the living room, Irina on his heels to accompany him to the front door and close it behind him. Ethan exhaled for a long time, settling himself more comfortably in the chair, almost slumped. Some of the tension seemed to have gone with the magician's departure.

"I really can't bring myself to tolerate him after what he did, there's nothing I can do about that" he let go in a fatalistic tone.

His remark created mild hilarity among the older couple. Mia fully understood her soulmate's point of view. He had lied to them all along, and, in addition to putting them in danger, he had also manipulated the redhead. None of the moments they had shared could be sincere to them now that they knew the truth.

"He really fell in love with Arry, you know," Irina said, looking at Mia. "He is consumed by the idea that she will probably never forgive him for what he has done."

"And it's well deserved," Ethan sneered.

The young Vila was harsh in his judgment, but the blonde once again shared his point of view. Even though the wizard's affection for the redhead was sincere, their relationship had been built on a pile of lies and manipulation. Trust was totally shattered between the two magicians. He had used her. It was surely mission impossible to rebuild anything after knowing this fact. Besides, Arry was a pretty woman. She would find other men who would not try to take advantage of her.

"We all have to make sacrifices," Irina objected, heading for the kitchen to finish the meal. "You can stay here Mia, Adam will help me finish the cooking."

Ethan's older brother quickly got the message as he nodded and joined his wife in the next room. They could still hear them, but it was a welcome semblance of privacy after such a discussion.

"I would have preferred to go fight on my own and have you stay here, but I guess you're not going to wait for me nicely."

"I'm not going to lie," Mia retorted, sitting down on the arm of the chair. "Just the idea of ​​having to fight all kinds of creatures who want my skin, even with guns and my heightened senses, I want to curl up under my bed sheets and never come out again... but there's no way I'm leaving you to fight on your own. I don't want to be the little damsel in distress, agonizing over whether you or my friends are alive or dead."

"I suspected so. I will never let them hurt you let alone kill you as long as I am alive and able to fight, you know that, don't you?"

"Yes. It's the same for me, you know. I won't let them kill you if I can stop them."

And as if to seal their promise, Mia lowered herself to meet his lips. She placed a single kiss on it, hoping that it would be enough to show all the affection and trust she felt for the Vila at that moment. He answered her by sliding his hand through her hair, against her ear, and lowering her head again so that their foreheads were touching. The tenderness he was able to show never failed to create little butterflies in her stomach and sparks of love in her heart.

As soon as he does something like that, my love for him grows so much...