Elara's POV
"Adrian killed my parents?" I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. "My own cousin murdered them?"
"Yes." Cassian's voice was ice-cold. "And now he's here to kill you too."
The flames roared higher. Smoke poured through the windows. My childhood nightmares were coming true—the manor burning, the screams, the smell of death.
"We have to stop him," I said, moving toward the door.
Cassian grabbed my wrist. "No. That's exactly what he wants. You go out there, he kills you and takes your blood. Uses it to break the inheritance bond and claim the manor for himself."
"So what do we do? Just let him burn down my house?"
"It's not your house yet. Not until you accept the inheritance." He pulled me away from the window. "And the manor can defend itself. Watch."
The flames hit an invisible barrier about three feet from the walls. They climbed higher and higher but couldn't actually touch the stone. Like there was a shield protecting everything.
"The wards," Cassian explained. "As long as the manor recognizes you as the heir, they'll hold. Adrian can't get in without your permission."
"Then why is he trying?"
"To scare you. To make you run." Cassian's jaw tightened. "Or to force you into making a choice right now, while you're terrified and not thinking clearly."
Adrian's voice boomed again: "I'll give you one hour, Elara! One hour to come out and talk like civilized family! Or I'll find another way in—and trust me, you won't like it!"
The mages began chanting. Their voices rose in unison, speaking words in a language I didn't understand. The air itself seemed to vibrate.
"What are they doing?" I asked.
Cassian's face went pale. "They're trying to summon something. Something strong enough to break through the wards."
"Can they do that?"
"If they have the right components, yes. Blood from a Thornwood. An artifact from the Forgotten Realm. And a sacrifice." He cursed under his breath. "Adrian must have been planning this for years."
The chanting grew louder. The ground began to shake.
"Cassian, I need the truth. All of it. Right now." I grabbed his arm, forcing him to look at me. "What happens if I accept this inheritance? What exactly am I agreeing to?"
He stared at me for a long moment. Then he sighed. "Sit down. This is going to take a minute."
We sat on the floor, our backs against the wall, while fire raged outside and dark mages chanted death below. It was the most insane moment of my life.
"Your family made a pact eight hundred years ago," Cassian began. "The first Thornwood guardian discovered the Forgotten Realm and realized it was dying. The corruption was spreading. So she made a deal with the realm itself—she would protect it, contain the darkness, in exchange for power."
"What kind of power?"
"Magic. Real magic. The ability to see between worlds, to manipulate energy, to live far longer than normal humans. Every Thornwood since has inherited these gifts." He paused. "But the pact required a guardian. Someone bound to the manor to maintain the barrier. Usually a magical being—a spirit, a fae, someone not fully human—who volunteers for the role."
"Like you."
"Like me. Except I'm human. Or I was." His voice went quiet. "Humans aren't supposed to perform the binding. It's too much power for a mortal body to handle. That's why it's killing me."
My chest ached. "Then why did you do it?"
"Because your mother was dying. Your father was already dead. The mages were seconds away from taking you. And there was no one else." He looked at his hands. "I was seventeen and in love and terrified of losing you. So I did the ritual without fully understanding the consequences."
"What are the consequences? Exactly?"
"For a normal guardian? They live for centuries, bound to the manor, protecting it until the Thornwood heir releases them or they're killed. For me?" He touched his neck where the black veins had been. "The power is burning me out from the inside. Transforming me. In another year, maybe less, I won't be Cassian anymore. I'll be something dark. Something the Thornwoods will have to destroy."
Tears burned my eyes. "There has to be another way."
"There is. You." He turned to face me fully. "If you accept your inheritance within thirty days, you have three options. One: perform your own binding and become the new guardian. I'd be released, probably die, but at least die human. Two: reject the inheritance completely. The manor falls, the barrier breaks, everything ends. Or three..."
"Three?"
"Bond with me instead of replacing me. Share the guardian role. Your Thornwood blood might stabilize my transformation. Might save us both." He hesitated. "Or it might curse you too. Trap us both in the same slow death."
"Why thirty days specifically?"
"It's part of the inheritance law. You have to live on the grounds for thirty consecutive days to prove you're committed. If you leave before then, or if you reject it, the estate defaults to the next blood relative." His face darkened. "Which is Adrian."
Everything clicked into place. "That's why he's here. He's waiting for me to run. Waiting for me to give up."
"Yes. And if you don't give up, he'll try to kill you before the thirty days are up. Dead heirs can't inherit."
The chanting outside reached a crescendo. The ground shook violently. One of the windows cracked.
"They're almost through," Cassian said grimly. He stood and pulled me up. "We need to move to the inner sanctum. It has stronger protections."
"Wait." I grabbed his hand. "You said my mother wanted me to have a normal life. That she made you wait until I was twenty-seven. Why? Why that age specifically?"
Something in his expression shifted. Like I'd asked the one question he'd been hoping I wouldn't.
"Cassian. Tell me."
"Because that's when Thornwood powers fully manifest," he said quietly. "Your mother hoped that if you grew up away from magic, lived a normal life, the powers might never wake up. You could just be human. Free."
"But they did wake up, didn't they? The dreams. Seeing auras. That's all magic."
"Yes. Which means you're already changing, Elara. Whether you accept the inheritance or not, you can't go back to being fully human. Adrian knows this. That's why he's attacking now, while you're still weak and untrained."
A massive explosion rocked the manor. The window shattered completely. Something dark and massive began pushing through the wards—a creature made of shadow and smoke and nightmare.
"The summoning worked," Cassian breathed. "They brought through a void beast."
The creature roared. The sound was so loud my ears rang. It slammed against the invisible barrier, and I felt the impact in my bones.
"How long will the wards hold?" I shouted over the noise.
"Minutes. Maybe less." Cassian's eyes were already going black. "I can fight it, but I'll have to use a lot of power. If I do, the transformation will accelerate. I might not be able to stop it."
"And if you don't fight it?"
"It breaks through. Kills everyone in the manor. Including you."
The creature hit the wards again. Cracks appeared in the air itself, like glass about to shatter.
I made a decision.
"Teach me," I said. "Right now. Teach me how to use my power."
"Elara, you need months of training—"
"We don't have months! We have minutes!" I grabbed his shoulders. "You said I'm strong. That I have potential. So unlock it. Do whatever you have to do."
He stared at me, conflict warring on his face. Then he nodded. "This is going to hurt."
He placed both hands on my temples. His palms were ice-cold.
"Open yourself to the manor," he said. "Feel its energy. Let it in."
"How do I—"
Power slammed into me.
It felt like being struck by lightning. Every nerve in my body lit up. I screamed, but I couldn't hear it over the roaring in my ears.
Images flooded my mind. Centuries of Thornwood guardians. My ancestors fighting, dying, protecting. I saw my mother as a young woman, fierce and powerful. I saw Cassian the night of the fire, cutting his palm and bleeding onto the manor's stones, screaming as the binding took hold.
And I saw myself. Not as I was now—broken and scared and running from everything. But as I could be. Powerful. Radiant. A guardian stronger than any before me.
The vision shattered.
I gasped, falling to my knees. Silver light crackled around my hands.
"You're glowing," Cassian said, wonder in his voice.
I looked down. He was right. My skin was emitting a soft silver glow, and I could feel the manor now. Feel its heartbeat. Feel the wards straining against the void beast.
Feel the exact moment they broke.
The creature burst through with a triumphant roar.
Cassian stepped in front of me, darkness erupting from his body.
But before he could attack, something else happened.
The bound spirits—Morgana and the others—appeared from nowhere. They surrounded the void beast, their eyes glowing with hunger.
"Thank you for the meal, guardian," Morgana purred. Then they attacked.
The void beast didn't stand a chance. The spirits tore into it, feeding on its dark energy. Within seconds, nothing remained but smoke.
Adrian's voice cut through the night, furious now: "You think a few pet spirits will save you? I have an army! And I have something else too—something that will make you beg to surrender!"
He stepped forward, into the light of the dying fires.
And he wasn't alone.
My heart stopped.
Standing next to Adrian, bound in magical chains and bleeding from a dozen wounds, was Thomas Greyson.
And behind him, also chained, was someone I never expected to see again.
Marcus. My ex-fiancé. The man who'd stolen my money and destroyed my life.
"Recognize them?" Adrian called out. "The lawyer who found you. And the man who made sure you'd have nothing left to lose. They both work for me, cousin. They always have."
Thomas's face was twisted in pain. But Marcus was smiling.
"It was all a setup," Adrian continued. "Every bit of it. The theft. The eviction. All designed to make you desperate enough to come home." He pressed a knife to Thomas's throat. "Now you have a new choice. Come out and surrender the inheritance peacefully, or I start killing the people who brought you here."
"He's bluffing," Cassian said. "Thomas knew the risks."
But I was staring at Marcus. At his smile.
"What did you do?" I whispered.
Adrian heard me somehow. He laughed. "Oh, that's the best part! Show her, Marcus!"
Marcus reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial of dark red liquid.
My blood.
"Remember that doctor's appointment I took you to?" Marcus called up. "The one where they took blood samples for 'routine testing'? Surprise! We've had your blood for months. Fresh Thornwood blood. All the power, none of the consent needed."
He uncorked the vial and poured it onto the ground.
The earth began to crack.
The Forgotten Realm's door—the one Cassian had shown me—burst open.
And something ancient and terrible began to crawl through.