Evaline:
The world around was silent... too silent... while the only sound I could really hear was the uneven thud of my own heartbeat. My hands were still trembling where they clutched the phone, my eyes glued to the words staring back at from the old report.
Words I didn’t expect to see.
Words that changed everything.
My breath hitched.
My pulse spiked so sharply that I knew... knew my mates would feel it.
And of course...
Oscar stirred.
His shifting weight dipped the mattress slightly, and his hand slid across the sheets until it found my thigh. Then he froze... clearly sensing my emotional state... and instantly jolted awake.
"Eva?" he whispered, his voice thick with sleep but sharpened by worry. He sat up so fast the blanket fell from his shoulders. "What’s wrong? What happened?"
I didn’t answer.
I couldn’t.
The report held hostage.
My eyes skimd the lines again, searching, re-reading, disbelieving... but the words didn’t disappear. It stayed right there... ink faded, letters warped with age, but unmistakably present.
Oscar reached for my arm. "Eva-"
Footsteps thundered outside. And the bedroom door burst open.
Kieran strode inside first, bare-footed, shirt half-buttoned, hair wild as if he had literally run out of his room the second my emotions hit him. River was two steps behind him, face hard but eyes frantic.
"What happened?" Kieran demanded, crossing the room in seconds.
"Angel, what’s wrong?" River echoed, his voice tight.
They stopped next to the bed, hovering with fear that had beco far too familiar these past weeks.
Oscar looked just as lost, his gaze darting between and the brothers.
But I couldn’t speak.
I couldn’t even lift my eyes from the screen.
The numbness spreading through was too vast, too heavy, too consuming.
Kieran lowered himself onto the edge of the bed. "Evaline. Hey... look at ."
I forced myself to blink and dragged my gaze up.
He sucked in a breath... my expression must have terrified him.
"What is it?" he whispered.
My lips parted... but no words ca. Instead, I whispered the only thing I could...
"I... I need to see Draven."
All three of them froze.
They clearly thought I wanted to see Draven because I was missing him... aching for him... which was true... but that wasn’t why I asked.
Still, not one of them tried to question .
Not one of them tried to stop .
Oscar stood imdiately and grabbed his jacket for , draping it over my shoulders without a word.
Kieran brushed his thumb over my cheek, then nodded once.
River reached for my hand, gently helping off the bed.
And together - silent, tense, confused - they led down the stairs.
We crossed the darkened hallways of the estate, heading toward the west wing - the part of the mansion only open to the brothers... and now . My heart pounded harder with every step.
Down the staircase.
Through the sound-proofed corridor.
Past the last, heavy steel-lined door.
At the very end of the long, dim hallway stood the familiar door.
I didn’t wait for anyone.
I pushed it open.
The low light glowed softly across the room, illuminating the bed where Draven lay motionless - too still. Too pale. Too quiet.
The sight nearly buckled my knees again.
But I forced myself forward, straight toward him.
"Lights," I whispered.
River flicked on the overhead controls imdiately and the room brightened at once.
I reached Draven’s bedside and... without allowing myself to hesitate... I began unbuttoning his gown shirt with shaking hands.
Oscar’s voice ca from behind , gentle but confused. "Eva...?"
Kieran stepped closer, tense. "Love, what are you-"
I didn’t stop.
I didn’t answer.
I pulled the fabric aside...
And froze.
My hands fell limp to my sides.
The breath punched out of my lungs.
The black veins...
Were gone.
Completely.
The dark, jagged, unnatural streaks that had been crawling up his chest the night of the ball... the veins my power had recoiled from... the veins he and I had agreed to tell the others about once we returned ho...
Gone.
Erased.
As if they had never existed.
River gently placed a hand on my shoulder. "Evaline... what is going on?"
I swallowed hard and turned to face them.
Their expressions were torn between shock and deep confusion.
"I saw them," I whispered, pressing a hand over Draven’s chest. "The night of the ball. I noticed them while we were dancing. There were black veins spreading under his skin - black, thick, wrong."
All three of them stiffened.
I forced myself to continue.
"I tried to heal them," I said quietly. "My power reacted... badly. It recoiled. Like it was refusing to touch them. Like whatever those veins were... they weren’t right."
A breathy, horrified sound escaped Oscar.
"He told he didn’t feel any pain," I went on, my voice growing smaller. "We agreed we would tell you all once we returned ho but... we never got the chance."
The room fell into stunned silence.
River’s hand slipped from my shoulder.
Kieran’s jaw clenched so hard I heard it crack.
Oscar looked like he was struggling to process everything.
Then Kieran exhaled shakily and stepped forward.
"So," he murmured, his voice low and controlled, "you think these black veins might have sothing to do with Draven ending up soul-dead?"
I closed my eyes for a mont, letting the truth settle heavily inside .
"I didn’t know," I whispered. "At first, I thought they were just... sothing dangerous. Sothing foreign. Sothing I didn’t understand."
I opened my eyes again and lifted my phone with trembling fingers.
"But then..."
I couldn’t finish.
Kieran stepped closer, his hand brushing my arm.
"Evaline. Continue," he urged softly, eyes locked on mine. "Please."
I raised my gaze, eting all three of theirs.
Their breaths were held.
Their bodies rigid.
Fear.
Hope.
Dread.
And I finally said it.
"I just found the description of those sa black veins," I whispered, my voice shaking, "in an old soul-death report from four centuries ago."
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