Chapter 117 - The third wheel

**Hopes pov**

I buried my nose in the big beautiful rose and inhaled the wonderful scent. Not even in the most expensive flower shop could you find such big beautiful roses, it was only here, in Zandra's garden. I had woken up this morning with a feeling of uneasiness inside me, something was pulling and calling me, or rather Luna, even Callum's attempts to calm and distract me didn't help.
"Could it have to do with Zandra? She's bound to Luna, isn't she?" He finally asked and I felt he was right. She could have linked me if she wanted me to come, but it wasn't me she was looking for, it was Luna.
She opened her front door while I was still admiring the magnificent flowers in front of me.
"Just in time, the coffee is just finished and the scones still warm." She turned and went inside and I followed her. The first thing I noticed was that the usually tidy house was now cluttered with books. Piles of writings, both bound and on rolls and some of them looked very old.
"Zandra…what is all this?" I picked up a roll and felt the thick uneven paper. Luna growled a little in my head and Zandra chuckled.
"I know, I don't like it either."
"Don't like what?" I looked at Zandra and she came forward and pointed to my hand.
"That...It's a spell, written on the back of one of Ambrogio's victims."
"Huh!? What the hell Zandra!" I let go of the roll and instinctively wiped my hands on my shirt.
"Don't look at me like that! It wasn't my spell!" She continued into the kitchen where the coffee was set out.
"You must understand that the war between us and Ambrogio has been going on forever, and that poor man was sent to us to infiltrate. Ambrogio's dark witch at that time burned the spell into the man's skin, you could say he was carrying a wire. Through him she could see and hear everything. However, it didn't take long for us to expose him, his fate after that was pretty much sealed."
“And the rest? Are they spells too? What are you doing with all this Zandra?” Her gaze turned a little sad for a few seconds before she was back to her usual self.
“Sorting, you know, one pile to save, one to donate, and one to throw away.” Luna snorted at her in my head and the word bullshit popped up. As if she heard it, she chuckled again and answered.
“You know me too well Luna.”
“And what is this?” A smaller item on the kitchen table caught my interest and I picked it up. It was a dagger, a beautifully carved dagger, the perfect size for a woman’s hand. Unlike a normal knife, this one did not have a metal blade, it was entirely made of wood. The point was sharp and could definitely cause a lot of damage, the handle was perfect in the hand and even though it was sharpened and polished, it wasn’t so smooth that it would become slippery. Words and symbols were engraved in the blade, words I could neither decipher nor understand. What I was sure of, however, was that it wasn’t old, it wasn’t an old relic from one of the old battles, it hadn’t been passed down between generations...no, this one was new, so new that I could still smell the fresh sap in the wood. An unpleasant feeling welled up inside me, not only in me but in Luna as well.
“Zandra?...”
“Come sit down.” She sat down at the kitchen table, lit a cigarette and motioning for me to do the same. I placed the dagger on the surface between us and waited for her explanation.
“She wants him dead...she wants me to kill him.” She said it so calmly and without emotion it was almost scary. As if she had surrendered and accepted what had to be done.
“Zandra…who wants who dead?” I knew the answer to half the question, a dagger made entirely of wood could only be meant for one person. But who could get Zandra to that point but Zandra herself? Zara? Tatiana? Any of the other white witches? I strongly doubted all alternatives, none of which I understood were strong enough to force Zandra to do anything at all. I felt that the questions were only mine, Luna knew exactly who she was talking about and I started to feel a bit like the third wheel. *Luna, would you enlighten me as to who she is talking about?* All I got in response was a whimper and the same feeling of submission as from Zandra...and it almost pissed me off.
“Alright, one of you can explain, stop your silent telepathy now!”
“Aayla…Aayla wants him dead.” Many thoughts ran through my head. Had she not recovered? Did she mix up time and space after living in her make-believe world for so long?
“No Zandra…Aayla wanted him dead, a long time ago…Aayla’s not here anymore.” I reached across the table and took her hand and she smiled at me, like one smiles at a small child.
“Oh silly girl…you know so little…Nothing and no one is ever completely gone, everything remains in one form or another.”
“So you mean Aayla, my first ancestor has contacted you in another form and said she wants you to kill Ambrogio? Are you listening to yourself?” My voice came out slightly upset and it wasn’t helped by her rolling her eyes at me.
“Hope, you’re very new to this world, I don’t expect you to understand...”
“Oh, but I think I do understand Zandra. I understand that you were so afraid of your own feelings for the man that you ran away you left everyone who loves and needed you, ran away into a fairy tale world! I understand that now you have to face the truth and you can’t handle it, but this time you are not hiding in another world you are hiding behind Aayla and her hatred because you can’t hate him yourself anymore!
“Hope, that’s not true..”
“Stop it Zandra! At least own your own feelings and be honest! Aayla has been dead for hundreds of years, Luna is her werewolf, I’m of her blood so yes, you’re right, something always remains but nothing in us, not a single cell, not a single atom tells me you are right, that she is here and want you to do this. I may be young and naive, new to this world as you say, but I’m not stupid! If you want him dead, if you yourself are ready to die, to leave us all for good this time, own it, he gave you the choice so he won’t even resist, take the dagger go there and drive it into his heart, but stop hiding!” I stood up now, and pretty much yelled at her while angry tears left my eyes. Luna let me be, she didn’t cheer me on, but she didn’t stop me either. When I caught my breath after my outburst, she gently pushed me back, it wasn’t forced, but she wanted the reins. I let her take over, too emotionally unstable to talk to Zandra any more. I saw in her eyes that she noticed that we had changed places and her expression changed.
“Luna…”
“Zandra…she is not wrong.”
Zandra sighed and went to retrieve the bottle from under the sink.
“She may not be entirely wrong…but she’s not right either, this is bigger than that, you know that”
“I do.”
“So, what do you think I should do?”
“I don’t care if Ambrogio lives or dies, and I’m still adjusting to feeling that way. However, I maintain that the price for his death is far too high. You’re not done yet Zandra and I find it hard to believe that ...Aayla would have thought so.”
“She was there Luna, in the wind, the tree...I felt her so strongly.”
“And I’m not saying you didn’t and I know how overwhelming it can be. She was my first and strongest host, until I was born in Hope. They are so similar, not just looks, I’m talking about all their qualities and if Hope is willing to let Ambrogio live, if she is willing to not only make peace with him but take him in as a friend...then I don’t believe Aayla would oppose it…and even if she would, if somehow she came and demanded war and his death, Aayla’s time is over. But I don’t think she did, she’s happy in the great heaven with her mate, I’m sure of it. But we are still here, you, me...and Ambrogio and it’s up to us what the rest of our time will be like.”
“What do you think it will be like?”
“I have no idea, but I wish it will be peaceful, that for once I can live for something other than bloody battles and loss, that for the first time I can give birth to and see my child grow up and that I have my best and oldest friend by my side.” Zandra looked guilty as she listened to Luna’s wish.
“I don’t know what to do Luna...”
“Me neither but I don’t think you’ll figure it out by sitting here, you need to meet him, you need to figure this out together.”
Zandra looked at the dagger before picking it up. Her fingers caressed the inscriptions.
“What do they mean?” Luna’s voice was understanding and comforting as she spoke to her friend.
“They…I don’t even know if they work…they should…it’s a soul separation spell. I’m not ready to die yet Luna, I thought if I can separate my soul from his then I can stay. I read all the books i have, all the binding spells and how to undo them, this is what i came up with. It can separate us, but it must be done with his death, his last heartbeat is the last the ingredient.