CHAPTER 126: WHEN THE STORM LEARNS YOUR NAME

The fog did not retreat.

It hovered outside the shattered windows and the trembling walls, a living presence pressed against the compound like a second skin. The Patron did not move either. He remained in the storm, standing motionless, cloaked in the unnatural glow that pulsed from the sky. The sentinels behind him were aligned with military precision, the strange silhouettes still as statues carved from shadow and thunder.

The only thing that moved was the lightning.

And fear.

Inside the medical wing, Aria’s body finally went limp in Luca’s arms. Not unconscious, but drained. Her breathing steadied, chest rising and falling slowly against him. Her fingers remained curled in his shirt, gripping the fabric as though afraid that letting go would open the door inside her again.

Rosetta checked her pulse with trembling hands. "She is holding on. Barely. But she is holding."

The doctor exhaled a shaky breath of relief. "Her vitals are stabilizing. Heart rate decreasing. Oxygen levels increasing. The glow has subsided."

Nico stood near the broken window, gun in hand. "The bastard is still there. Standing like a damn statue."

Luca looked at Aria again. Her eyes were half-open, heavy with exhaustion but still tracking him, still present.

She whispered, "He is furious."

Luca kissed her temple. "Good. Let him burn."

But Aria shook her head faintly. "He is not angry because he lost. He is angry because he knows how I closed the door."

Rosetta frowned. "What do you mean?"

Aria swallowed with difficulty. "I did not close it alone. I closed it because of him." Her weak fingers tightened on Luca’s arm. "Because of my bond with him."

Luca froze slightly.

Her voice softened. "The circle listens to strength. It listens to the strongest bond in the blood. He thought it was him."

Her eyes lifted to Luca’s.

"He was wrong."

Luca didn’t speak, but the small shift in his jaw betrayed the emotional punch her words delivered.

Aria lowered her head against his chest again. "But he felt the door close through my blood. He felt me choose you instead of the lineage he built. That is why he is angry."

Nico’s eyebrows drew together. "So we wounded his pride."

Aria whispered, "We challenged his claim."

Dr. Henri cleared his throat nervously. "Claim to what?"

Aria’s gaze drifted to her abdomen. "To her. To my child. To the next bearer."

Something cracked sharply outside, like the sky itself splitting.

The fog trembled.

And then the Patron lifted one hand.

Not in a threat.

In a ritual.

Salvatore stumbled into the room. "Sir. You need to see this."

Luca stood, lifting Aria with him. She clung to him weakly, unable to walk, her body trembling from the battle she’d just endured.

They moved to the broken window.

Outside, the sentinels stepped forward in perfect rhythm. Their movements were too smooth, too synchronized, too unnatural to belong to living men. They formed a circle around the Patron.

A perfect circle.

Aria gasped quietly. "The ancestral circle."

Rosetta crossed herself. "Madre di Dio."

The Patron raised both hands.

Lightning shot upward from the ground, not down from the sky.

The circle glowed with a pale gold color that made Luca’s skin crawl. The sentinels began to whisper something in an ancient language. Their voices echoed in a dissonant harmony that sounded like distant screams filtered through stone.

The fog churned harder than before, swirling around the Patron’s feet like smoke hungry for flame.

Aria’s voice trembled. "He is invoking bloodright."

The doctor looked horrified. "What is that?"

Aria’s hand tightened around Luca’s. "A ritual older than this land. A way to force the bloodline to answer. A way to call what belongs to him."

The doctor swallowed. "Your child."

Aria nodded weakly. "Yes."

Luca felt something cold settle into his bones.

He lifted her chin gently. "He calls. She does not answer."

Aria shook her head, tears shining in her eyes. "Luca. She is still inside me. Still forming. Still fragile. She can hear everything, but she does not understand. She feels the pull but she does not know why."

Nico pointed outside. "What the hell is happening to the ground?"

The earth beneath the Patron cracked in spirals, forming glowing fissures in the shape of concentric rings. The lightning flash reflected off them, illuminating ancient sigils carved into the soil long before the compound existed.

Aria whispered, "The first site of entry."

No one understood.

Except Luca.

Aria looked up at him with fear that gutted him. "The land we are standing on. It is a first-circle ground. A place where blood and legacy converge. That is why he came here."

Rosetta pressed a hand to her chest. "This place is sacred."

"It is cursed," Aria corrected softly.

The Patron lifted his eyes to the window.

To Aria.

And the storm bent around him like a servant bowing to its king.

His voice carried without sound, spoken directly into her mind.

Open the door.

Aria recoiled violently into Luca’s arms, choking on her own breath.

"No," she gasped. "Not again."

Luca grabbed her face. "I have you. I have you."

Her eyes fluttered with pain.

The Patron extended his hand again.

Luca roared toward him, "Get away from her."

Aria clutched her stomach. Her nails dug into her skin through her gown. "He is calling her by name again."

"What name?" Luca demanded.

Aria shook, eyes wide. "Antiera."

Rosetta whispered the name in horror. "The first bearer."

The earth shook.

The lights died again.

The fog surged like a tidal wave.

Luca held Aria tightly. "You do not answer him."

"I am not," she whispered. "But she... she is listening."

The baby kicked once.

Twice.

Three times. Hard enough to make Aria gasp.

Luca grabbed her hands and held them against her belly. "Focus on me. Focus on my voice."

Aria tried. Sweat dripped down her temples. Her breathing hitched. "Luca, she is scared."

"Then I will protect her."

Lightning cracked again, forming a strange sigil in the sky.

The Patron’s voice cut through the storm.

She is mine.

Aria shouted in agony and fell forward. Luca caught her before she hit the floor, lowering her gently but urgently. Her body trembled with unbearable strain.

Dr. Henri rushed forward. "Her heart rate is dropping. We are losing her."

Aria’s voice trembled like breaking glass. "Luca..."

He leaned in close. "I am here."

"Help me keep her with us."

"I will."

Aria clung to him. "I cannot close the door again alone."

Something pulsed under her skin.

A white glow, soft yet terrifying.

Luca kissed her forehead, jaw clenched. "I am not letting him take her. Or you."

Nico took a step back. "Boss. The fog is coming in through the door."

Salvatore shouted orders into the hallway.

Chaos erupted outside the room.

Guards yelled.

Weapons fired.

Something slammed against the steel entryway with supernatural force.

Aria withered in Luca’s arms. "He is tearing the door open. From both sides."

The baby kicked wildly.

Aria screamed.

Luca pressed his lips to her ear. "Close it, Aria. Close it."

Her breath fractured. "I cannot without you."

"I am here. I am fighting with you."

She sobbed softly. "She is trying to go toward him."

Luca wrapped both arms around her belly, anchoring her to his chest. "No one is taking her. Not even fate."

Aria squeezed his hands weakly. "Then help me."

Luca leaned his forehead against hers. "Tell me how."

Aria inhaled sharply. "You must bind me to this world."

He kissed her. Deep. Desperate. Claiming.

Her breath hitched. Her body shook. The glow under her skin flickered.

Outside, the Patron hissed in anger.

Luca whispered against her lips. "You belong to me."

The glow weakened.

Aria clung to him. "Do not stop."

Luca kissed the tears from her cheeks. "You are mine."

The glow faltered.

The Patron shouted something in the ancient tongue.

The ground split wider.

Lightning struck the roof.

The walls shuddered.

Luca held her face firmly, forcing her eyes to stay on him.

Her breathing slowed.

Her heartbeat steadied.

Her body pressed fully against his.

Aria whispered, on the edge of collapse, "I choose you."

The door inside her slammed shut with a violent internal jolt.

The glow extinguished.

Aria collapsed in Luca’s arms.

The Patron staggered in the storm, snarling with primal fury.

The sentinels froze, their bodies trembling like puppets whose strings had been severed.

The fog recoiled rapidly, shrinking away from the building.

The storm shattered.

The night went silent.

Aria’s breathing steadied slowly against Luca.

She whispered, barely alive, "I closed it."

Luca kissed her forehead, voice cracking. "You did it. You did it."

But Aria shook her head faintly.

"No. Not forever."

Outside, the Patron vanished with the fog.

And the last thing Aria said before unconsciousness took her was:

"He will come back stronger."