Lila didn't remember falling asleep.
One moment she had been sitting on the edge of the guest bed in the Ashford estate, telling herself she would leave as soon as the dizziness faded.
The next—
Darkness swallowed her.
And the ocean returned.
But this time, she wasn't standing on a cliff.
She was inside the water.
Not drowning.
Not floating.
Suspended.
The sea was silent beneath the surface, thick and endless. Light filtered down in fractured beams from somewhere impossibly far above.
And then she saw her again.
The Mamaide.
No longer distant. No longer blurred by storm.
She moved through the water without disturbing it, black silk drifting around her like ink in clear glass. Silver eyes glowed softly, ancient and sorrowful.
"You feel it now," the Mamaide said.
Lila tried to speak, but salt filled her lungs.
"You carry the mark," the woman continued. "It has awakened."
Lila looked down at herself.
There, just below her collarbone, a symbol burned faintly beneath her skin — swirling lines curved around a central crescent, glowing pale silver.
It pulsed once.
And the ocean trembled.
"You were never meant to be distant from this bloodline," the Mamaide whispered. "You were meant to guard it."
Guard it?
Before Lila could demand answers, the sea cracked.
Yes—cracked.
Like glass.
A fissure of blinding light split the water in two.
And from the darkness beyond it—
A scream echoed.
Male.
Agonized.
Adrian.
Lila's heart lurched violently.
The Mamaide's expression shifted.
"He stands at the threshold."
"Of what?" Lila forced out.
"Choice."
The crack widened.
Water rushed inward violently, dragging Lila toward the darkness.
"Wait!" she cried.
But the Mamaide only said one final thing before everything shattered:
"Love will either free him… or feed it."
Lila woke with a violent gasp.
3:17 AM.
The digital clock on the bedside table glowed bright red.
Her chest burned.
She scrambled to the bathroom mirror.
And froze.
The mark was there.
Not glowing.
But visible.
A faint silver etching beneath her skin, curved like a protective sigil pressed into flesh.
"This isn't real," she whispered.
The lights flickered.
Behind her reflection—
For a split second—
The Mamaide stood in the doorway.
Lila spun around.
Empty.
Her breathing quickened.
This was not stress.
This was not imagination.
This was something ancient.
And it had chosen her.
A knock sounded at the bedroom door.
Sharp.
Controlled.
"Lila?"
Adrian's voice.
She swallowed hard and opened it.
He looked different tonight.
Less composed.
More… human.
"I heard you," he said. "You sounded like you were in pain."
His gaze dropped instinctively to her collarbone.
She stepped back.
"Just a nightmare."
He didn't believe her.
But he didn't push.
Instead, he leaned casually against the doorframe, arms crossed loosely. Yet tension radiated beneath the relaxed posture.
"I haven't slept properly in weeks," he admitted quietly.
"Since the engagement?" she asked.
His eyes flickered.
"Yes."
Silence stretched between them, charged but not uncomfortable.
The ocean outside was calmer now. Almost eerily so.
"Have you ever questioned it?" Lila asked softly.
"Questioned what?"
"The curse."
A faint muscle tightened in his jaw.
"I don't believe in curses."
"Then why haven't you married for love?"
The question slipped out before she could stop it.
He studied her carefully.
Because there it was.
The unspoken current between them.
Slow-burning.
Dangerous.
"I did once," he said quietly.
Her heart stopped.
"And?" she breathed.
"She left."
The words were simple.
But something in his tone suggested that wasn't the full story.
Before she could ask more—
A crash echoed from downstairs.
Both of them froze.
Another crash.
Glass shattering.
Adrian moved first.
"Stay here."
She didn't.
She followed.
They descended the staircase together, tension coiling tighter with each step.
The main hall was dark except for moonlight spilling through towering windows.
And there—
At the center of the marble floor—
The painting of the Mamaide lay shattered.
The vault door stood open.
The frame was splintered.
Canvas torn.
Sea painted across centuries-old oil now rippled like real water across the floor.
Adrian's face went pale.
"That vault is biometric and coded," he muttered.
They stepped closer.
Lila's breath caught.
The Mamaide's figure was gone.
Only ocean remained.
And written across the torn canvas in dripping seawater—
One word:
UNINVITED.
A slow clap echoed from the top of the staircase.
Evelyn.
She descended gracefully, completely composed.
"This," she said calmly, "is exactly what I warned you about."
Adrian turned sharply. "You did this?"
Her eyes flashed with irritation. "Don't insult me."
Then she looked at Lila.
Not with fear.
Not with confusion.
But with calculation.
"It's reacting to her," Evelyn said.
Lila's pulse thundered.
"To me?"
"Yes." Evelyn stepped closer. "You weren't part of the equation."
"I was hired to restore a painting."
"No," Evelyn said softly. "You were drawn here."
Silence dropped heavy in the hall.
Adrian looked between them.
"What aren't you telling me?" he demanded.
Evelyn held his gaze for a long moment.
Then—
"Every Ashford heir is bound to a guardian spirit," she said evenly. "But the guardian doesn't awaken unless love threatens the balance."
Adrian stiffened.
"That's superstition."
"It's history," Evelyn countered. "Your ancestors made a pact. Protection in exchange for sacrifice."
Lila's blood ran cold.
"What sacrifice?" she whispered.
Evelyn's gaze never left hers.
"The woman the heir loves."
The meaning slammed into her chest.
The scream from the ocean.
The crack in the water.
The word choice.
Love will either free him… or feed it.
Adrian looked furious now.
"This is absurd."
"Is it?" Evelyn challenged quietly. "The clocks. The storms. The painting. Her mark."
The word mark hung in the air.
Adrian's eyes snapped to Lila's collarbone.
She instinctively covered it.
"How do you know about that?" she demanded.
Evelyn's smile returned.
Small.
Cold.
"Because," she said softly, "the Mamaide never marks without reason."
A sudden gust of wind tore through the hall.
Every window shattered simultaneously.
The ocean roared violently below the cliffs.
And from somewhere deep within the estate—
A woman's voice echoed, clear and powerful:
"He must choose."
The lights went out.
Total darkness.
And in that darkness—
A hand brushed against Lila's.
Warm.
Solid.
Adrian's voice came low beside her ear.
"I don't believe in curses," he said.
"But I believe in you."
And for the first time—
The mark beneath her skin pulsed gently.
Not in pain.
But in response.