"Are you telling ..." Vivian swallowed hard, her gaze shifting to . "That I ended up in a fairy clan because..." Her voice wavered. "Because Lady Aelira put there?"
Severin smiled.
It was the kind of smile worn by soone who could already see the damage spreading exactly as planned.
"Stop," Lucian snapped. "How are we supposed to believe any of this?" He stepped forward, eyes locked on Severin. "For all we know, you’re saying this just to drive a wedge between them. Who knows what you’re really after?"
Severin didn’t look offended.
If anything, he looked amused.
"Well..." he said calmly, tilting his head. "That is one of my reasons." His gaze flicked briefly toward before returning to Lucian. "I hate phoenixes. You know that. Just as much as you do."
Lucian’s jaw clenched.
"But," Severin continued lightly, "everything I’ve said so far is the truth."
Silence fell.
Vivian’s hands curled into fists at her sides. "All this ti..." Her voice shook. "I was there, serving my parents like a servant. Being hurt. Being tornted." She swallowed hard. "Trying to repay their sins with my own life."
Her shoulders trembled.
"I thought that was just how things were supposed to be," she continued, bitterness creeping in. "That this... was my punishnt. That if I endured enough, I would finally be forgiven."
I felt my chest tighten painfully.
Vivian laughed then but there was no humor in it. "And now you’re telling none of it was even ant for ?"
Her gaze lifted, sharp and wounded. "That I was suffering for sothing I never chose?"
No one answered.
Because no explanation could make that truth any kinder.
Vivian exhaled slowly, her fists unclenching at last. "If this is the truth," she said quietly, "then I don’t know what part of my life I’m allowed to believe in anymore."
"Vivian..." I reached for her hand instinctively.
She pulled it away at once.
"What?" Vivian snapped, her eyes blazing as she looked at . "What do you want to say?"
Her voice shook, but her anger held.
"All this ti," she went on, "I protected you. Even with my life." She laughed bitterly. "I thought I was supposed to. Because of my parents’ sin, because your mother helped get away from the fairies."
Her chest rose sharply. "I believed I owed her. I believed I owed you."
I shook my head. "You never owed anything."
"That’s easy for you to say," Vivian shot back. "You were the one being protected."
The words hit harder than any accusation.
"I stayed," she continued, her voice breaking now. "I endured everything because I thought it was repaynt. Because I thought that was the aning of my existence."
Tears finally spilled down her cheeks, unchecked. "And now you’re telling it was never mine to carry?"
The room stayed silent.
"I believed there must be so reason—" I started, my voice barely holding.
"Reason?" Vivian cut in sharply.
She laughed, short and broken, her tears still falling. "Your mother... the heiress of the phoenix, had a reason?" Her eyes burned as she looked at . "Even so, that doesn’t justify keeping in the dark. Not for all those years."
Her voice rose, cracking at the edges. "Not before she died."
My chest tightened painfully.
"She should have told the truth," Vivian said, each word heavy. "I deserved to know. I deserved to choose."
She wiped her face roughly with her sleeve, her hands trembling. "Instead, everyone decided for . What I was. Where I belonged. What I had to endure."
Her gaze flicked to again. It softened for just a second but the hurt underneath was still raw.
"She... your mother..." Vivian swallowed hard. "She made it sound like protecting you was my responsibility." Her voice rose despite herself. "Just because she wanted to protect you. Because you were her daughter."
Her hands clenched into fists.
"Do you understand?" she demanded. "I didn’t choose that. I was never asked. I was just expected to obey."
She shook her head, laughing bitterly. "I thought I was paying for sothing. For my parents. For myself. For existing."
Her eyes burned as she looked at .
"But it was never my duty," she said, each word shaking. "It was her decision. And I carried it like it was my fate."
"No—no—no, Vivian," I said quickly, stepping forward before the words could cut any deeper. "Listen to first. Don’t believe everything you hear."
I turned then, my gaze locking onto Severin.
"If there is more to this... and I’m sure there is—then say it," I demanded. "Where is the proof?"
The room went still.
"Proof," I repeated, my voice steady despite the storm in my chest. "Not rumors. Not stories. Not things whispered after people are already dead."
Severin studied for a long mont, his smile slowly returning. "You really are a true blood phoenix," he said mildly.
"That’s not an answer," Lucian snapped.
Severin chuckled. "Oh, but it is." He straightened, hands clasped behind his back. "Because proof," he said calmly, "has a habit of surviving where people don’t."
Vivian’s breath caught.
Severin’s eyes slid back to her. "If you want evidence," he said softly, "then you’ll have to look where the truth was hidden."
A pause.
"Not in words," he added. "But in what was taken from you."
And with that, the silence returned—thick, ominous, and full of things none of us were ready to face.
Vivian’s breath trembled.
"What was taken from ?" she asked quietly.
Severin’s gaze lingered on her for a mont longer than necessary. "Your na," he said. "Your bloodline. Your right to know."
Lucian stepped forward at once. "Enough riddles."
"Oh, I’m being very clear," Severin replied calmly. "You just don’t like the direction the truth is pointing."
I clenched my hands. "If you have proof, show it."
Severin tilted his head, as if considering whether we were worth the effort. Then he reached into his coat and drew out sothing small.
A crystal vial.
Inside it, a faint shimr moved—blue-green, slow and rhythmic, like a tide breathing in glass.
Vivian’s eyes widened.
"What—" Her voice broke. "What is that?"
"This?" He raised the crystal vial, " This is sothing that is supposed to bind you," Severin said. "A trace of blood taken the night you were born. Sealed away before the mark could draw attention."
Thalor sucked in a sharp breath. "That kind of binding... only Leviathan rites use it."
Severin smiled. "Exactly."
Vivian took an unsteady step back. "You’re saying... They planned this. All of it."
"What I’m saying is this," Severin said calmly. "Your fate could have been very different... better, even—if certain people hadn’t decided that protecting their own child mattered more than telling you the truth."
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