Elara's POV
The door swung open.
I grabbed the first thing I could reach—a lamp from the nightstand—and threw it with all my strength.
It smashed against the wall. The thing in the doorway laughed.
It looked like Cassian. Same face. Same storm-gray eyes. But wrong. All wrong. Its smile was too wide, showing too many teeth. Its movements were jerky, like a puppet on strings.
"That wasn't very friendly," it said in Cassian's voice.
I backed away until I hit the wall. "What are you?"
"I'm whatever you want me to be, little Thornwood." It stepped into the room. "I can be your dead boyfriend. Your murdered parents. Your best friend. Just let me closer and I'll show you."
"Get out!" I screamed.
The creature laughed again—and then its head snapped to the side. It hissed like an angry cat.
The real Cassian stood in the hallway behind it, darkness pouring from both hands. His face was terrifying. Cold and furious.
"I told you to stay in the lower levels," he said quietly.
"But she's so pretty when she's scared," the creature whined. "We just wanted a taste—"
Cassian moved faster than anything human. One second he was in the hallway, the next he had the creature by the throat, slamming it against the wall so hard the pictures rattled.
"You don't touch her," he snarled. "You don't even look at her. Understand?"
The creature gurgled something. Cassian squeezed harder.
"I said, understand?"
"Yes, guardian," it choked out.
Cassian threw it into the hallway. The creature scrambled away on all fours, its Cassian-face melting into something gray and formless before it disappeared down the stairs.
I slid down the wall, my whole body shaking. Cassian came to me immediately, kneeling down.
"Don't touch me," I whispered.
He froze. Pain flashed across his face, but he nodded and sat back. "I'm sorry. I should have warned you about the mimics. They're usually locked up, but something's setting all the defenses loose."
"I want to leave. Right now. I don't care about the money or the manor or any of it."
"Elara—"
"No!" Tears poured down my face. "This is insane! There are monsters in this house! Things that pretend to be people! And you—you're one of them!"
"I'm not." His voice was soft but firm. "I promise you, I'm still me. Still the person who loved you. Still the boy who grew up with you."
"That boy is dead."
"No. That boy made a choice." Cassian moved to sit against the opposite wall, giving me space. "A choice to save you. To protect you. Even if it cost him everything."
I wiped my eyes roughly. "Then explain. Tell me what happened that night. The truth."
He was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke, his voice was heavy with old pain.
"The attack came at midnight. Dark mages—servants of Lord Ashford Nyx. They wanted the manor. Wanted the power your family guards. Your parents fought back, but there were too many." He stared at his hands. "I was seventeen. Powerless. Watching the people I loved die right in front of me."
"My mother—"
"Your mother was a warrior. Stronger than you know. She held them off long enough to get you out. But she was dying, Elara. Your father was already gone. And the mages were coming for you." His jaw tightened. "She gave me a choice. Run and save myself. Or stay and become the manor's guardian—bind my life to this place forever in exchange for the power to protect it. To protect you."
My breath caught. "The ritual."
"The blood binding. Once I performed it, I became immortal as long as the manor stands. I gained strength, power over shadows, the ability to sense threats." He looked up at me, his gray eyes full of ancient sadness. "But I can never leave. Not ever. This estate is my prison until the day someone breaks the binding or I die defending it."
"But why did everyone tell me you were dead?"
"Because your mother made me promise. She said if you knew I was alive, you'd come back immediately. You'd try to save me. And Nyx's people were still hunting for you." He leaned his head back against the wall. "She wanted you to have a normal life. To grow up safe. To only return when you were old enough to choose this burden freely."
"Twenty-seven," I whispered. "She made you wait until I turned twenty-seven."
"Ten years. Three thousand, six hundred and fifty-two days." His voice cracked slightly. "I counted every single one."
The pain in his voice broke something in me. I'd spent ten years mourning him. But he'd spent ten years alone in this house, waiting for me. Protecting my inheritance. Keeping his promise to my dying mother.
"I'm sorry," I said softly.
"Don't be. I'd do it again." He smiled, but it was sad. "A thousand times over, I'd choose you."
We sat in silence. Outside, the wind howled across the moors. Inside, the manor creaked and settled around us.
"What am I supposed to do now?" I asked.
"You have thirty days to decide. Accept your role as guardian and bond with me—which will give you power but tie your life to mine and this place. Or walk away. Give up everything and let someone else inherit."
"And if I walk away?"
His expression went cold. "The manor falls. The barrier between the human world and the Forgotten Realm breaks. Every creature locked in there floods out. Thousands die." He paused. "And I die with the manor."
"That's not fair. That's not a choice."
"No," he agreed quietly. "It's not. But it's the legacy your family has carried for centuries. Now it's yours."
I wanted to scream. To cry. To wake up from this nightmare. But Cassian's gray eyes held mine, and I saw the truth in them. This was real. All of it.
"I need time," I said.
"You have it. Thirty days." He stood slowly. "I'll post guards outside your door. Real ones, not mimics. You'll be safe tonight."
He walked to the door, then paused. "Elara? I know you don't trust me yet. I know this is overwhelming. But please believe one thing—I never stopped loving you. Not for a single day in ten years."
Before I could respond, he was gone.
I sat there on the floor, my mind spinning. Then I remembered my phone. The texts. The photo of someone watching me.
I pulled it out with shaking hands.
A new message waited:
Did Cassian tell you the whole truth? Did he mention what happens if you bond with him? You'll be just as trapped as he is. Just as immortal. Just as cursed. Choose wisely, cousin. Some cages look like love.
My blood went cold.
Another message came through immediately:
P.S. - Check under your pillow. Your mother left you something. Something Cassian doesn't want you to find.
My hands trembled as I stood and walked to my bed. My stuffed rabbit sat innocently on the pillow.
I moved it aside.
Underneath was a leather journal I'd never seen before. My mother's handwriting on the cover:
For Elara. The truth about the guardians. The truth about the binding. The truth about what we really protect. Read this before you choose. Trust no one—not even him.
I opened the first page.
My mother's words stared back at me:
My darling girl, if you're reading this, I'm gone. And Cassian has probably already lied to you. The blood binding isn't what he thinks it is. It's not protection. It's a curse. One that's killed every guardian who's ever performed it. He has ten years left before it consumes him completely. Ten years before he becomes the very monster he's fighting against. The only way to save him is to break the binding. But breaking it will kill you both.
You must choose: save Cassian and die with him, or let him fall and survive.
I'm sorry, my love. I'm so, so sorry.
The journal fell from my numb fingers.
A scream echoed through the manor. Cassian's voice, full of agony.
Then silence.