{Regina}
~**^**~
"You don’t need the details yet," I said smoothly, "but you do need to be prepared for consequences. If I’m to ruin Elira Shaw, it will not be quiet. There will be embarrassnt... possibly scandal. But once it’s done, her reputation will never recover. Not even the Moon’s Whisper blog will be able to save her."
Soraya grinned, the predatory glint in her eyes returning.
"Now that’s the kind of language I like to hear."
Kaelis tilted her head slightly, studying . "You are playing with fire, Regina. If this backfires, it won’t just be that girl who burns."
"I understand," I said evenly. "But this is personal. I will take the risk."
The tension broke for a mont when Caleb, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, spoke up.
"Speaking of fire..." he said slowly, his brows furrowing, "was I the only one who noticed it? The faint tendrils of heat spiralling from Elira’s fingertips when Adriel tried to provoke her?"
The room stilled, then in the next second, Soraya’s eyes widened slightly.
"I saw it too," she said, sitting up straighter. "At first, I thought it was the light reflecting off the mat, but... no. It moved. Like it was coming from her."
Kaelis’s expression darkened. "Are you suggesting what I think you are?"
Soraya shrugged, but her smirk was razor-sharp. "It seems to ," she said, "that Elira Shaw might not be an Oga after all."
I forced myself not to react, but my throat tightened anyway.
No. That couldn’t be right.
Elira isn’t an oga? She has Fire?
Nyra leaned forward. "Things are actually getting out of hand. She looked like she was ready to burn that boy alive."
Kaelis turned from the window, her eyes sharp, calculating.
"So, what are we saying?" she asked, her voice slow, deliberate. "That this... Elira has a gift? That she has been hiding a power all along?"
Sothing hot and bitter clawed up my throat. ’Power.’ That word shouldn’t belong in the sa sentence as that bitch.
She was supposed to be the weak one, the forgotten oga—the one who would never rise.
And yet... here we were.
I could still see her in my mind, standing at the centre of that mat, breathing hard, the crowd chanting her na like she was so sort of saviour. My cousin. My blood.
If Kaelis and the others ever found out... that the girl they were talking about, the girl I had sworn to destroy, shared my surna, my family—Kaelis would turn her rage on .
My palms curled into fists beneath the table. I couldn’t let that happen. I needed control back.
So I swallowed my fury and tilted my head slightly, forcing my expression into sothing cool and composed.
"It’s probably just speculation," I said. "No one has proof."
Caleb shrugged. "Speculation or not, that much heat doesn’t just appear from nowhere."
"Maybe it was the friction from the fight," I muttered, but my voice sounded weak even to .
Soraya chuckled. "You sound nervous, Regina."
I shot her a glare, but she just smirked wider.
Kaelis’s gaze lingered on for a long mont before she finally said,
"If Elira Shaw truly possesses a supernatural gift and has been hiding it under the guise of an oga, that changes everything. It ans she has deceived this institution, and by extension, ."
Her tone sent a chill down my spine.
"Do you want to look into it?" I asked quickly, hoping to steer her focus.
Kaelis’s eyes hardened. "No. That’s not important, and you’ve already done enough ddling for now."
That stung, but I didn’t let it show. I only bowed my head slightly.
She turned back toward the window again. "Still... Founders Day will be interesting. If there’s truth to this, it will reveal itself then."
That’s when I realized I was trembling from sothing darker. Rage.
The thought of Elira—that useless, ek little girl who used to trail after like a shadow, standing in the sa spotlight as , as Kaelis, as if she belonged there... it was unbearable.
No.
I wouldn’t allow her to keep climbing.
Whether she had powers or not, I would make sure she regretted ever stepping into that ring.
Because if Elira Shaw was fire, then I would beco the storm that drowned it.
---
The office had long emptied—only the ticking of the antique clock on the far wall kept company.
Papers were stacked neatly on the desk, the faint scent of polished wood lingering in the air. I waited until the last light of dusk filtered through the window before reaching for my phone.
Mother answered on the second ring, her tone as clipped and commanding as ever.
"Hi, Gina. How are the preparations for Founder’s Day coming along?"
I leaned back in the chair, forcing a steady breath. "Busy, as always. There has been no rest for any of us."
"Good," she said. "That celebration must go flawlessly. The King and his council will be watching."
"Yes," I murmured, then hesitated. The words burned in my throat before I finally let them out. "But... there has been a complication."
A beat of silence. Then, sharply: "What complication?"
"Elira." Her na alone soured my tongue. "She made it to the top ten."
The sound from Mother was a hissed inhale, followed by a pause so heavy it filled the room. "You let that happen?"
I bit down on my irritation. "I tried, Mother. I made sure the acu-point technique she relied on was banned. I even spread a rumour questioning her combat integrity—it reached the gossip networks within hours. But it didn’t last. She won again. Every setback, she turned into leverage."
"You call that trying?" Mother’s voice cut like a blade. "You should have ended it before she had the chance to fight again."
My fingers tightened around the edge of the desk. "I’ve done everything short of sabotaging the matches physically. Even then, I sent two students to watch her movents. They reported nothing. She goes to class, the cafeteria, stays with her little friends, nothing out of the ordinary."
"Impossible," she spat. "No one gains combat skill like that overnight. Soone must be training her."
I hesitated, then lowered my voice. "There’s more."
A dangerous quiet filled the line. "What is it?"
"During the duel today," I said, every word tasting of disbelief, "one of the council mbers—Caleb—noticed sothing. He said he saw faint tendrils of heat spiralling from Elira’s fingertips."
There was a long pause. Then Mother’s voice, low and trembling, not with fear but fury, answered, "How in the moon is that possible?"
"I don’t know," I admitted, my pulse quickening. "I didn’t see it myself, but the others did. Even Soraya said Elira might not be an Oga at all."
Mother’s silence burned through the receiver before she finally spoke, her voice sharp as frost.
"So, Kathryn actually passed on her supernatural gifts to her daughter?"
I gripped the edge of the desk, my jaw tightening.
"That’s what it looks like. And what baffles even more is how it all happened overnight. One mont, she is the pathetic little Oga everyone pitied, and the next—she is winning duels, earning praise, and... glowing with power. I thought she wouldn’t amount to anything, even under Alpha Cyprus’s protection."
Mother exhaled slowly, the sound heavy and scathing. "You should never have taken your eyes off her in ESA. If you had been vigilant, none of this would have happened."
I flinched at her words but forced myself to defend my pride. "Who knew her story would turn around for good? If I had the gift of seeing the future, I would have monitored her every move."
Mother sighed over the line, the weight of old grudges thick in her voice.
"I regret not dealing with her properly when she still lived under our roof. I should have made sure Kathryn’s bloodline ended with her. Unfortunately for us, your father will be delighted to hear this news."
At the ntion of Father, sothing twisted inside —resentnt, sha, and dread tangled together.
But my mind wasn’t on Father’s reaction. My thoughts were already miles away, circling back to Zenon—the way his eyes never once softened for since Elira entered the picture.
"Mother..." I whispered, hating the tremor in my voice. "How do I ever get Zenon back? You should see how Elira is basking in everyone’s attention now. None of the brothers has treated kindly since they found out about her being their mate."
Mother’s tone softened, almost tender. "Regina, don’t lose hope. Luna Gwenith promised she won’t let her son mate or marry Elira. You still have that assurance."
But I couldn’t stop the bitterness from spilling. "What if even the Luna can’t help anymore?" I whispered, the fear clawing at my chest.
"What if she changes her mind, seeing how much attention Elira’s gaining? What if I’ve already lost?"
There was a brief silence. Then Mother’s voice turned low, deliberate—dangerous.
"Then you make sure Elira loses everything before she gets the chance to win. If the world wants to worship her, give them a reason to despise her instead. You understand , Regina?"
I swallowed hard, the words burning through like poison and promise both.
"Yes, Mother," I said quietly. "I understand."
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