The blackened rose lay on Priyam's desk, its thorns glistening with venom. Evelyne stared at it, her knuckles white as she gripped the edge of the wood. "This isn't just a threat," she said quietly. "It's a declaration. Someone in my family wants you dead—and they're arrogant enough to flaunt it."
Priam flexed his bandaged hand, the rune still throbbing beneath the wrappings. "Why use *your* family's magic to attack me? What's the point?"
"Power," Evelyne hissed. "The Rozenheims have always been guardians of the Veil of Shadows. If it falls, our lineage loses its purpose—and its influence. By framing us, they discredit my house *and* eliminate you in one stroke." She turned to him, her violet eyes blazing. "We leave for the Rozenheim estate at dawn. You'll see firsthand the vipers I call kin."
---
**The Road to Rozenheim**
The journey to the Rozenheim estate was tense. Priyam rode alongside Evelyne in a carriage emblazoned with her family's crest—a silver rose entwined with thorns. Kirche, ever the opportunist, had invited herself along ("*Someone* needs to keep you two from brooding yourselves to death"). Luna and Astrid followed on horseback, the former nervously adjusting her beastkin ears beneath a hood, the latter scribbling notes about the Veil's fluctuations.
As the carriage climbed the mist-shrouded mountains, Kirche leaned across Priyam, her crimson hair brushing his shoulder. "You know, if the Rozenheims try to kill you, I'll gladly play the hero. For a price."
Evelyne kicked her under the table. "Focus, Zerbst. This isn't one of your cheap romances."
Kirche smirked. "Jealousy doesn't suit you, Princess."
The banter died as the estate loomed into view—a fortress of obsidian stone, its spires clawing at the sky like skeletal fingers. Priyam's rune flared, the Void's whispers swelling into a chorus.
*"Blood calls to blood,"* it murmured. *"They will betray you."*
---
**The Rozenheims**
The family greeted them in a hall draped with tapestries of war and sacrifice. At the head stood **Lord Cassian Rozenheim**, Evelyne's uncle, his platinum hair streaked with gray and his eyes as cold as the Void itself.
"Niece," he said, his voice dripping with faux warmth. "How… *bold* of you to bring a commoner into our halls."
Evelyne's smile was a blade. "Priam is no commoner. He's the Void's heir—and the key to preserving the Veil."
Cassian's gaze flicked to Priyam's bandaged hand. "Is that so? Then why does the Veil weaken by the hour?" He snapped his fingers, and the tapestries shifted, revealing a fractured mural of the Void's maw tearing through the sky. "Your pet's mere presence destabilizes the balance. The council has already voted to dissolve your claim to the guardianship."
Evelyne stiffened. "You're lying."
"Am I?" Cassian nodded to a hooded figure in the shadows—the same intruder who'd attacked Priyam. They lowered their hood, revealing a face nearly identical to Evelyne's, save for a scar cutting through their left eyebrow.
"Hello, sister," said **Seraphine Rozenheim**, Evelyne's twin, presumed dead in a childhood accident. "Miss me?"
---
**The Twin's Gambit**
Chaos erupted. Seraphine raised a hand, and Priyam's rune *burned*, binding him in place. "You think *you* deserve the Void's power?" she sneered. "I've spent years bleeding in the shadows to master it. You're just a puppet."
Evelyne lunged, her staff clashing against Seraphine's dagger. "You betrayed our family! You betrayed *me*!"
"No," Seraphine hissed. "You betrayed *yourself* when you chose duty over blood!"
Kirche and Luna rushed to Priyam's side, breaking the spell's hold with a combined burst of fire and beastkin strength. Astrid, ever analytical, shouted over the din: "The Veil's anchor is here—a relic in the crypts! Destroy it, and the Void will consume everything!"
---
**The Crypts of Rozenheim**
Priam sprinted through the catacombs, Seraphine's laughter echoing behind him. The relic pulsed ahead—a jagged shard of obsidian suspended above an altar. The Void's whispers crescendoed, urging him to *take it, claim it, become it*.
But as he reached for the shard, Seraphine materialized, her dagger at his throat. "You're too late, Voidwalker. The Veil falls tonight."
Priam's rune blazed. "Not if I drag you down with it."
He channeled the Void's energy, not into destruction, but into the relic itself. The shard *screamed*, fissures spreading across its surface as the Veil's fractures began to mend. Seraphine recoiled, her connection to the Void severed.
"Impossible!" she snarled.
"The Void isn't yours to control," Priyam said, the relic crumbling to dust in his hands. "It's *mine*."
---
**Fallout**
The estate trembled as the Veil stabilized. Cassian fled, Seraphine vanished into shadow, and Evelyne stood amidst the ruins of her family's legacy, her mask of icy composure shattered.
Kirche whistled. "Well, that was dramatic."
Astrid knelt beside the relic's remnants, her glasses cracked. "This was a temporary fix. The Veil is still weak. And Seraphine won't stop until she claims the Void's power—or destroys you."
Priam met Evelyne's gaze. "We'll stop her. Together."
For the first time, Evelyne didn't argue.
---
**To Be Continued…**