Chapter 8
The sun had long risen, but its warmth never touched the walls of Dravencourt Manor. It poured through stained-glass windows like diluted fire—beautiful, but distant.
Elira walked swiftly through the west wing, a storm brewing in her chest. Her hands trembled with questions she could no longer ignore.
She didn't knock when she reached Kael's study. She pushed the door open and stepped inside.
He looked up from a war map, his eyes narrowing slightly. "You're early."
"I didn't sleep," she said.
He raised an eyebrow. "Because of what you saw?"
"No," she said. "Because of what I read."
She tossed the letter onto his desk. The black envelope slid across the surface and stopped just before him.
Kael's expression didn't change, but his fingers curled slightly around the edge.
"Where did this come from?"
"Outside my room," she said. "Left there while your guards were supposedly protecting me."
Kael picked it up and examined it. He didn't open the letter—he didn't need to. His eyes lingered on the seal. "I know this mark."
"Then tell me what it means," Elira demanded. "And tell me now. Who am I really?"
Silence settled between them like a weight. Heavy. Inevitable.
Then Kael walked to the fireplace and pulled a leather-bound book from the mantel. It was thin, unmarked, and bound with threads that shimmered silver.
He placed it gently on the desk and opened it.
"There was a girl," he said. "Born to a forgotten branch of the Vexley bloodline. Her existence was hidden by her family. Even from the Empire. They called her... unnecessary. Dangerous."
Elira's throat tightened.
"She was the result of a failed ritual. Her power unstable. Her mind fragmented. But the truth is... she wasn't a failure. She was evolving."
Kael turned the page.
"There was an incident. Records are unclear, but it was buried. Literally. A grave was built—not for her—but for the identity she had been given."
He slid the book toward her.
Elira stared at the name written in faded ink at the center of the page.
"Eliendara."
Not Elira.
Eliendara.
"She died once in body," Kael said softly, "and again in name."
Elira's pulse pounded. "So… Elira Vexley never truly existed?"
"No," Kael said. "She did. But not as you remember her."
She looked at him, eyes burning. "Then who am I now?"
Kael met her gaze. "You're a soul that's returned to the vessel it was born for. Reborn… not as Elira Vexley. But as Eliendara—the girl they tried to erase."
She stood slowly, the world tilting around her.
"You should have told me."
"I was waiting," Kael said. "For the moment you were strong enough to hear it."
Outside, the wind howled through the courtyard, sharp and bitter.
And in her heart, something broke open—not pain, not fear—but fury.
If she was Eliendara…
Then who was the one who betrayed her first?
🔮 Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 9: The Man with Two Faces
That night, a masked guest arrives at the manor—a diplomat from the eastern lords seeking an alliance.
But when Elira hears his voice, she knows it instantly.
It's the man who watched her execution in her first life.The one who kissed another woman's hand as she died.
Thorne Drestin… is alive.And now, he wants an audience with the Duke's wife.