CHAPTER 80: NOT HIS DAUGHTER

"No—no, wait!"

I spun in confusion, pressing my palm against my forehead like I needed to physically stop the chaos inside.

"So... when was that? When you made that deal with the old lady?"

"A month before the engagement day..." Vaylen replied carefully.

My heart thudded.

He continued, "When you knocked on our door that day, I was completely shocked. You looked exactly like Celeste, but what confused us even more was..."

He hesitated, glancing at Lucian as if asking permission to continue, "You were like a vessel without a soul."

I froze.

Lucian’s grip on my hand tightened just slightly, so subtle anyone else would miss it.

But I felt it all the way to my chest.

"A vessel?" I echoed, my voice thin. "What does that even mean?"

Vaylen swallowed. "You didn’t speak. You didn’t react. Your eyes weren’t... alive. You stood there like someone had placed you in front of us and just... left."

A cold ripple crawled over my skin.

This was nothing like Maya’s cheerful canon-fodder explanation.

"Then...?" I pushed, my voice barely steady.

"We took care of you for about a week," he said slowly. "Fed you, clothed you, tried to get you to respond... but then..." His fingers trembled slightly, "you suddenly disappeared."

My heartbeat stuttered.

"Until you appeared again the day before the engagement," Vaylen continued. "You remember that, right? You walked in, conscious, speaking, awake. Completely different."

I breathed hard, my chest tightening as a stabbing pain shot through my skull.

A sudden, crushing headache, sharp, like someone hammering a spike behind my eyes.

"I... don’t understand," I whispered. "My grandma. What about my grandma?"

Vaylen’s expression went pale.

"The old lady told us," he said carefully, "that if you ever disappeared and then reappeared again... we must tell you the exact same line."

My stomach dropped.

Ice-cold fear slithered up my spine.

I turned instantly, clutching onto Lucian’s shirt with both hands as panic surged through me.

"Lucian," I breathed, voice shaking, "I want to go back. Like... right now."

His eyes snapped down to me, instantly alert and protective.

I tightened my grip, fingers curling into his shirt like I needed him to anchor me before the floor swallowed me whole.

"Take me home," I whispered, pulse racing. "Please... now."

Lucian’s hand came up immediately, cupping the back of my head, pulling me closer, instinctively shielding me as if the walls themselves were threatening me.

"But My lady..."

Vaylen’s shaky voice cut through the air, thin and desperate.

"You said you would help... can you at least look at Celeste first?"

My breath hitched.

Slowly, hesitantly, I turned my head toward him. My lips trembled, my vision wavering at the edges.

"Celeste..." I whispered and then swallowed hard. "Is she... really your daughter?"

Vaylen froze.

Lucian stiffened beside me.

The room fell into a suffocating stillness, like no one wanted to breathe until I got an answer.

Vaylen’s voice came out small, trembling.

"No," he finally said, voice barely audible. "She’s not our daughter by blood."

My heart dropped.

He continued, hands trembling where they were clasped together.

"She was abandoned as a baby. We found her at our doorstep wrapped in frost lilies."

His throat bobbed.

"We raised her as our own. Loved her as our own. But she isn’t... biologically ours."

I felt Lucian’s grip on my waist tighten, subtle but firm because this revelation clearly connected too many dots from earlier.

Vaylen lifted his eyes to mine, filled with guilt, fear, and pleading.

"But she is family to us. She is... all we have." He swallowed hard, "And right now... she’s very, very sick."

Out of nowhere, Vaylen dropped to his knees with a thud, bowing so low his forehead almost touched the floor.

"Please, Lady Seraphina," he begged, voice trembling. "I beg you..."

But I couldn’t answer him.

My body simply... moved.

I leaned forward, slumping my face back into Lucian’s chest, pressing my forehead against him as if instinct alone was dragging me toward the one thing that felt remotely stable.

His hand instantly came up to the back of my head, steady.

My mind, however, was far from steady.

It was a storm.

A tangled, chaotic web of thoughts that slammed into each other too fast to process.

’If my brain were a computer’, I thought weakly, ’it would’ve blue-screened by now’.

Frozen.

Crashed.

Forced into a manual reboot.

Everything Vaylen said...

Everything I had heard...

It all hammered at me at once.

Lucian tilted his head, whispering quietly against my temple.

"Little bird... breathe."

I did.

Barely.

But I did.

Lucian’s voice dipped lower, softer, "If you want to go back," he murmured against my temple, "we can leave right now."

His hand slipped from the back of my head to my shoulder, steadying me, thumb brushing slow circles like he was trying to anchor me to him.

To safety and to something that wasn’t unraveling.

For a second, I wanted to say yes.

To run. To bolt straight out of this house and pretend none of this ever happened.

But Vaylen was still kneeling and shaking, his forehead nearly pressed to the floor.

And Celeste...

Whoever she truly was...

Was somewhere behind these walls, suffering.

My chest tightened painfully.

Lucian felt it.

Of course he did.

His hold on my shoulder firmed, like he was silently trying to brace me for whatever decision I would make.

"Seraphina," he whispered, "just say the word."

I swallowed, my throat dry.

"I..." my voice cracked, "I just need a moment."

I took a slow breath. Then another.

"Okay," I whispered. "I can try now."

Lucian didn’t look convinced, but he nodded once and slipped his hand down to intertwine his fingers with mine, gently this time, not gripping like earlier.

Vaylen’s relief was immediate. He scrambled to his feet, bowing so low his forehead nearly hit his knees.

"Thank you, My lady... thank you..."

I didn’t respond.

Lucian moved with me as Vaylen led us through the house, corridors smaller than Lucian’s manor, dimmer, and strangely quiet.

Every step made my pulse pick up again, but Lucian’s thumb stroking the back of my hand kept me from spiraling.

Finally, Vaylen stopped in front of a door.

He hesitated, hand trembling on the knob.

"She’s... inside," he said softly.