The silence that followed was deafening. Elara's knees buckled, and she sank to the floor, her mind racing.
"What just happened?" she demanded, her voice shaking.
No one answered. Marcus turned away, his face shadowed with an emotion Elara couldn't decipher. Liora's glow dimmed as she lowered her hands, her expression weary.
Sebastian crouched in front of Elara, his golden eyes meeting hers. "You're at the center of this," he said quietly. "You always have been."
Her heart pounded in her chest as his words sank in. "What are you saying?"
He hesitated, as though weighing how much to tell her. "This is only the beginning."
A distant rumble echoed through the estate, a reminder that the danger wasn't over.
Elara's fists clenched. She didn't know what she was a part of, but one thing was clear: whatever was happening, it wasn't going to wait for her to catch up.
The silence was heavy, like a storm brewing just beneath the surface. Elara clenched the edge of the wooden desk, her knuckles pale. The blood-stained letter still rested there, mocking her with its message.
"Is this what you wanted me to find?" she demanded, her voice cutting through the air like a blade.
Behind her, Dante lingered in the shadows, his expression obscured. "I didn't expect it to hurt this much."
Her eyes flicked to him, burning with frustration. "You knew. All this time, you knew the truth about my family—about me—and you kept it from me."
"I was trying to protect you," Dante replied, his tone steady, though there was a crack in his usual composure.
"Protect me?" Elara snapped, spinning to face him. "Or control me?"
Dante stepped forward, his shadow stretching across the room. "You don't understand what's at stake. If I had told you everything, you would've run straight into their hands."
"Maybe I would have," she shot back. "But at least it would've been my choice!"
The room trembled slightly, a faint vibration in the walls. The connection between Elara's emotions and the strange occurrences in the estate had become impossible to ignore.
Dante sighed, his hand running through his dark hair. "Elara, listen to me—"
"No, you listen!" she interrupted. "I don't know who to trust anymore. Not you. Not Marcus. Not even myself."
Before Dante could respond, a sharp knock echoed from the door. Both turned to see Marcus standing there, his face pale and tense.
"Forgive me, but we have a problem," Marcus said, his voice low but urgent.
Elara's anger momentarily faded as she noticed the fear in Marcus's usually stoic demeanor. "What's wrong?"
Marcus hesitated, glancing at Dante. "The vault. It's been breached."
Dante stiffened. "That's impossible. The wards were what?—"
"Were bypassed," Marcus interrupted, his tone grim. "And not just bypassed. They were obliterated."
Elara's heart raced. She didn't fully understand what the vault was, but from their reactions, it was something critical.
"Who did it?" Dante asked, his voice sharp.
Marcus shook his head. "We don't know. But whoever it was… they knew exactly what they were looking for."
A cold dread settled over Elara. "What's in the vault?"
Neither man answered.
"Tell me," she insisted, her voice rising.
Dante's jaw tightened before he finally spoke. "The key to everything. To your past. To your power."
Elara's mind raced, a whirlwind of questions and fear. "Then we need to go after them."
"It's not that simple," Marcus said, his tone cautious. "The breach was a distraction. The real attack is coming."
Elara's stomach dropped. "Attack? From who?"
Marcus glanced at Dante, who gave a small nod before answering. "The Harbingers."
The name sent a chill through the room. Elara didn't know much about them, but the whispers she'd heard were enough to know they were dangerous.
"Why are they after me?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Dante stepped closer, his gaze intense. "Because you're the only one who has everything they ever dread, the only one who is capable of stopping them."
Before she could process his words, a loud crash echoed from somewhere in the estate. The walls shook, and the faint sound of screams reached their ears.
Marcus drew a blade from his coat, his movements swift and practiced. "Be on high alert, They're here."
Dante turned to Elara, his expression hardening. "Stay behind me."
"No," she said firmly, surprising even herself. "I'm not hiding anymore."
A flicker of something—pride?—crossed Dante's face, but he didn't argue. "Then stay close."
The three of them moved quickly, the corridors of the estate eerily quiet despite the chaos they could feel pressing in. As they rounded a corner, they came face-to-face with a group of intruders clad in dark armor, their faces obscured by masks.
One of them stepped forward, a towering figure with an aura of menace. His voice was deep and distorted. "Hand her over, and we'll spare your lives."
Dante smirked, though his grip on his weapon tightened. "You'll have to do better than that."
The man's laugh was low and cruel. "Very well."
Without warning, the intruders attacked. Blades clashed, and the air was filled with the sound of metal against metal. Elara stayed close to Dante, her heart pounding as she watched him fight with a precision and ferocity that left her in awe.
But as the battle raged on, something changed. The same voice that had haunted her before returned, louder and more insistent.
"Elara, right now, it… it's time."
Her vision blurred, and the world around her seemed to fade. She stumbled, clutching her head as the voice grew louder.
"Elara!" Dante's voice broke through the haze, but she couldn't respond.
The last thing she saw before everything went dark was the towering figure of the intruder reaching for her, his hand glowing with a strange, otherworldly light.
"What's going on ? Is this the end ?