"I can tell you the story..."
The voice... unwelco and unmistakable, dropped into the room and forced everything into silence.
I blinked in surprise when my gaze landed on the tall man standing at the doorway.
Severin Drake.
"Thorne! Sebastian!" Lucian’s voice thundered across the room. "What the hell are you two doing, letting him in?"
His eyes locked onto Severin, cold and filled with open hatred.
Lucian stepped forward at once, pulling gently behind him as if on instinct. He glared straight at his father. "Leave," he said sharply. "While I’m still talking nicely."
"Try ." Severin grinned, utterly unbothered. "Do you really think anyone here can stop if I decide to stay?" He tilted his head slightly. "So of your security might take a while to thaw."
He laughed it off like it was so harmless joke.
Lucian froze.
His brows drew together. "Did you freeze my people?!"
His hand went to Severin’s collar but I grabbed his arm quickly, holding him back.
"Lucian..." I whispered. "It’s okay. Let handle this—"
"No." Lucian shoved Severin back a step. "Leave. I don’t want to fight you."
Severin calmly straightened his clothes, then raised an eyebrow. "I’m not here for you," he said lightly. "I’m here to tell a story."
His gaze shifted. "A story about the lost rmaid."
I turned instinctively toward Vivian.
Her eyes had lit up, sharp, alert, drawn in despite herself.
"Tell ," Vivian said, already pushing herself up from the bed.
"Stop."
Thalor’s voice was weak but urgent.
He forced himself upright despite the phoenix healer still checking his injuries and staggered forward, placing himself between Vivian and Severin. One hand pressed against the wound on his chest as he blocked her path.
"You don’t know him," Thalor muttered. "Don’t listen to him."
Severin’s smile widened slowly.
"Oh," he said, eyes gleaming, "but I know her story very well."
"Don’t listen to him," Lucian added coldly. "All my life as his son, I know him too well. He never does anything without a reason."
Vivian frowned. "What do I have?" she shot back. "What reason could he possibly need?" Her voice trembled with anger. "Do I have sothing that matters to a dragon? Sothing that would benefit him?"
Severin only smirked, standing there as if he were enjoying a play written just for him.
"No," Lucian said firmly, without looking away from Severin. "But I’m sure he didn’t co for nothing."
"Shut up!" Vivian shouted suddenly. "Get lost. All of you!"
The room went dead silent.
Severin lifted a shoulder in an exaggerated shrug, utterly unoffended. "Should I leave too?"
"No," Vivian snapped.
Before anyone could stop her, she shoved Thalor aside and rushed forward. "Tell ," she demanded, standing right in front of Severin. "Tell my story."
Thalor reached out instinctively. "Vivian—"
She didn’t look back.
Severin lowered his head slightly, eting her gaze at eye level. His smile faded—not into kindness, but into sothing far more dangerous.
"Very well," he said softly. "But you won’t like how it begins."
"Vivian..." I rushed to her side, gripping her arm gently. "Let’s rest first. Please. We’ll find out what really happened in the past... together."
"How?" Severin cut in smoothly.
I turned toward him.
"By digging up your mother’s grave?" he asked lightly.
The words landed like a slap. The room went dead silent.
Lucian moved instantly, ice flaring around him. "You cross one more line," he warned, voice deadly low.
Severin only chuckled. "Am I?" His gaze never left mine. "I thought she deserved honesty. Or does the truth only matter when it’s convenient?"
My chest felt tight, my breath shallow.
Vivian stiffened beside . Slowly, she turned back to Severin. "My story," she said hoarsely. "Does it start with her?"
Severin’s smile thinned. "No," he replied. "It starts with a promise that was never ant to be kept."
Thalor’s grip tightened at his side. Despite the worry etched into his face, there was sothing else there too. He wanted to know the truth.
"You see," Severin continued casually, "as a third-tier rmaid, your parents probably believed their daughter was safe." He glanced sideways at Thalor for just a second. "Safe from ever being bound to the fate of Leviathan."
Vivian’s fingers curled slowly.
"But the mont you were born," Severin went on, amused, "should I call it luck?" He chuckled softly. "Or perhaps a bad on?"
His eyes returned to Vivian.
"The mark of the Leviathan’s bride," he said, voice light and cruel, "the one ant to appear on the chosen rmaid’s eighteenth birthday..." He paused deliberately, "appeared on you the mont you were born."
Silence crashed down on the room.
No one spoke. No one breathed.
Vivian’s face drained of color, her body going rigid, as if the words themselves had struck her.
"What do you an?" Thalor’s voice barely ca out. His brows drew together as he pressed a hand against his chest, pain still lingering beneath the movent.
"I an it exactly as it sounds." Severin turned his gaze to him. "You know," he added casually, "the rumors surrounding the Leviathan clan were never pleasant."
Thalor’s eyes darkened.
"They say every bride died before reaching twenty-five," Severin continued, his tone almost conversational. "Died miserably."
"No one died," Thalor cut in sharply. "Not a single one."
"Oh—relax, young Veyra," Severin sneered. "I’m not stating facts. I’m repeating rumors." He shrugged lightly. "The kind everyone heard."
His gaze shifted slowly, deliberately back to Vivian, "Including her parents."
Vivian flinched.
"That’s why they made their choice," Severin said quietly. "To hide her away."
The words were soft, but everyone in the room heard them.
"And guess what...?" Severin’s tone shifted, a touch of excitent creeping in as he continued. "Since they couldn’t hide her within the sea, they reached for the one who could protect her on land."
His smile widened, "The true-blood Phoenix."
My breath caught.
"Aelira," Severin said clearly, his gaze sliding toward . "And her mate."
The room suddenly felt too small.
"They entrusted her to fire," Severin went on, amused. "Because nothing suppresses the sea quite like it."
Lucian’s jaw tightened.
"And that," Severin finished softly, "is how a rmaid disappeared into the world of fairies... where Aelira believed it would be the safest place to hide the chosen bride of Leviathan."
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