Chapter 56 – The Weight of Being Alone
Liora’s POV
By the ti the fortress grew quiet again, I understood sothing I hadn’t allowed myself to na before.
None of this had anything to do with jealousy.
Not Isolade. Not Ivy. Not even the way the elders spoke about like I was sothing that could be discussed, weighed, and decided on.
It was never personal. It was power.
I sat on the edge of the bed for a long ti, my hands resting loosely in my lap, listening to the distant movent outside my door. The tension hadn’t disappeared with nightfall. If anything, it had settled deeper into the walls, into the way people walked, into the way doors opened and closed more carefully than before.
Everything felt asured now and for the first ti, I wasn’t just caught in it. I was part of what they were calculating around. That realization didn’t hurt the way I expected it to. It didn’t co with panic or fear. It ca with sothing quieter, sothing colder.
Understanding.
I wasn’t being targeted because of who I was to Kael. I was being targeted because of what I was.
The thought stayed with as I stood, slower this ti, more aware of my body than before. The weakness hadn’t completely faded, but it had settled into sothing manageable. Enough to move. Enough to think clearly.
Enough to stop waiting.
I made my way toward the hidden panel without calling for anyone. There was no point. The guards outside the room were no longer just protection. I could feel it in the way they stood, in the way their presence lingered too long near the door.
They were watching not just for threats coming in but for going out.
The panel opened easily under my hand, the quiet click of it slipping into the silence of the room. I stepped through before I could reconsider it, letting it close behind .
The hidden space felt the sa as before. Still. Separated. Like the rest of the fortress couldn’t reach inside it.
Elera was awake again.
Her eyes found almost imdiately this ti, clearer than before, more focused. There was still weakness in the way she held herself, but it wasn’t the sa helplessness I had seen earlier.
"You’re pushing yourself," I said as I moved closer, lowering myself carefully beside her. "You should still be resting."
Her lips parted, and this ti, a sound ca out. It was faint, uneven, like her voice hadn’t fully returned to her yet.
"My la...dy..."
I stilled for a second.
"You don’t have to talk," I said quietly. "Just—"
She shook her head slightly, the movent small but deliberate. Her fingers shifted against the blanket, like she was trying to gather enough strength to hold onto sothing.
Sothing important. I watched her more closely then.
"What is it?" I asked.
Her breathing grew a little heavier as she tried again, forcing the words out slowly.
"Isolade..." she whispered.
The na settled between us, heavy in a way that made my chest tighten without warning.
"What about her?" I asked, keeping my voice steady.
Elera swallowed, her gaze fixed on mine like she was making sure I understood every word.
"She... gave the order," she said, each word taking effort. "Not just... to capture ..."
Her hand twitched slightly, like she was rembering sothing her body hadn’t fully recovered from.
"To... break ," she finished.
Sothing in my chest went still. I didn’t interrupt her this ti.
"She wanted... information," Elera continued, her voice barely holding together. "About you."
My fingers tightened slightly where they rested against the edge of the bed.
"What kind of information?" I asked.
Her eyes shifted, unfocused for a second, like she was trying to piece it together through pain.
"She kept asking..." Elera whispered. "What you are... what you can do... what’s inside you..."
The last part landed differently.
"What’s inside ?" I repeated quietly.
Elera nodded weakly.
"She said..." her voice faltered again, her breath catching. "If you survived... then it ans... you’re the one..."
A slow, cold understanding settled into place inside .
I wasn’t just soone caught in her plans.
I was the result she had been looking for.
I stayed quiet for a mont, letting that thought settle fully before I spoke again.
"She wasn’t trying to kill ," I said slowly.
Elera’s gaze flickered, like she wanted to respond but didn’t have the strength.
"She was testing ," I finished.
Elera didn’t disagree.
A quiet kind of clarity spread through then, sharper than anything I had felt before. Too many things started lining up at once, the attack, the poison, the way Ivy had spoken, the way the elders had reacted.
None of it had been random. I exhaled slowly, forcing my thoughts to stay steady.
"What else did she say?" I asked.
Elera hesitated this ti, longer than before. Her fingers curled slightly into the fabric beneath them.
"There was... sothing else," she said weakly.
I leaned in just slightly.
"What?"
Her eyes shifted toward the wall for a brief second, then back to .
"A room..." she whispered.
"What room?"
"Hidden..." she said, her voice fading in and out. "She said... if it’s real... if you find it..."
Her breathing hitched, the effort catching up to her.
"Chains..." she added, barely audible now. "Soone... waiting..."
The words didn’t finish.
Her body gave out before she could push any further, her head turning slightly to the side as her strength finally ran out. Her breathing didn’t stop, but it deepened into sothing heavier, like her body had shut down just enough to protect itself.
"Elera," I said softly, but she didn’t respond.
I didn’t try to wake her again. I sat there for a mont instead, my mind already moving faster than my body could.
The chamber beneath the fortress.
The woman who looked exactly like . The one who had said she was waiting.
My hand moved slowly, pressing against the edge of the bed as I stood, my balance steady enough now that I didn’t need to reach for support.
Everything connected too cleanly to ignore.
Isolade knew. Maybe not everything, but enough to test , enough to send soone looking for sothing she couldn’t reach herself.
My chest tightened slightly, but not from fear. From certainty.
"I wasn’t the first one they were looking for..." I said quietly, more to myself than anyone else.
The words felt heavier the second they left my mout because now, I understood the rest of it. I wasn’t the beginning of this.
I was the end of it.
"The last one they needed."
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