CHAPTER 90: THE ORACLE’S GIFT

Elyndra smiled as she traced her fingertip along the edge of the door, admiring the intricate weave of cold magic clinging to it. The moment her finger brushed the knob, a powerful shockwave burst outward, sharp enough to sting, strong enough to rattle her borrowed bones.

She pulled her hand back with a soft laugh.

"So dramatic," she murmured. "Typical Sebastian."

She had woken moments earlier to an empty room... Quiet, sterile, too orderly for her taste. No servants. No guards. No Lucian.

Just silence and the heavy pressure of a seal that pressed against her skin like invisible chains.

Sebastian’s work, she recognized it instantly.

The same kind of seal that once locked her soul inside nothingness after Lucian froze her body and shattered it into dust.

The memory flickered. It was damn cold and bitter.

Why had he hated her enough to do that?

Elyndra truly didn’t understand.

All she had ever done was clear the path for him.

Remove the women who tried too hard to catch his eye.

Silence the ones who whispered about him like they deserved him.

Protect what she believed was hers.

What fate had woven for her.

Was that such a crime?

Her palm pressed against the sealed door again, feeling the layers of magic tighten in response. The seal didn’t yield. Not even a crack.

She closed her eyes, letting Seraphina’s extraordinary body breathe around her. The warmth in the veins, the raw phoenix energy pulsing somewhere deep, deep under the surface.

She opened her eyes again and walked slowly toward the vanity table. Her reflection stared back at Seraphina’s face, Seraphina’s eyes, Seraphina’s beauty but none of them belonged to her.

Elyndra slid open the top drawer.

Inside lay a delicate silver hairpin, long and elegant, its ornamental tip sharp enough to pierce skin without much effort. Perfect.

She lifted it between her fingers, admiring the cold glint.

Then, without a second of hesitation, she turned the hairpin downward and drove it straight toward the flat of her stomach.

A burst of light flared under her skin. There is a seal, shoving her hand back with a violent force that sent the hairpin clattering to the floor.

Elyndra staggered a step, but instead of frustration, she laughed, loud and mockingly.

"Oh, come on!" she shouted at the empty room, wiping a tear of amusement from Seraphina’s cheek. "I should have expected this. Of course he’d protect his child."

She crouched down, picking up the hairpin again, her smile sharp enough to slice.

"But protecting it from me?" She tilted her head, grinning wider.

"That only makes me want to try harder." Her eyes sparkled with cruel satisfaction.

"If Lucian wants to keep this little spark alive," she purred, tracing her stomach, "he’ll have to keep coming back to me."

And with that thought, Elyndra’s laughter filled the sealed room again, echoing off the walls like a promise.

"Stop it, Elyndra..."

Elyndra froze. The voice wasn’t in the room. It came from the vanity mirror.

Slowly, she lifted her eyes toward the glass.

And her grin widened.

"What the—" She covered her mouth, laughter spilling between her fingers in mocking delight. "Still couldn’t figure out how to get out of there?"

She clicked her tongue dramatically, "Tsk, tsk, tsk... The one everyone called the purest fairy of our clan... yet you’re stuck inside a mirror? How embarrassing, Vivian."

The figure in the reflection wasn’t Seraphina. Not even the stolen face she wore.

It was Vivian—Seraphina’s best friend, the fairy who had followed her to the human world, the one who had lived quietly in the shadows for years.

Vivian’s expression was calm, but her eyes carried a sorrow far older than the body she currently occupied.

"What do you want to achieve from this, Elyndra?" Vivian asked quietly.

Elyndra arched a brow, leaning her hip against the vanity table.

"Excuse me?" she scoffed. "You should know exactly what I want. I’ve said it for a century. Lucian, my rightful place, our clan’s rise. It’s not complicated."

Vivian didn’t flinch.

"And you..." Elyndra went on, her smile twisting. "Out of everyone, you betrayed me. Your own best friend. For what? For redemption? For forgiveness? Why should we need redemption? We didn’t do anything wrong."

Vivian exhaled softly, her reflection shimmering faintly like the glass itself responded to her emotions, "You don’t understand," she said. "You never did."

Elyndra rolled her eyes. "Oh, spare me the moral lecture."

Vivian pressed her palm against the other side of the mirror, her voice firming, "Before she died," she said slowly, "the queen gave me one task. One duty."

Elyndra snorted. "Ah yes. The great punishment wrapped in a ’task.’ How noble of you."

Vivian didn’t rise to the mockery, her palm pressed firmer against the mirror, the surface trembling under her touch.

"She asked me to protect Seraphina," Vivian continued. "To keep her far from this world. Far from the danger our kind created. Far from the consequences of what... My family did."

Elyndra smirked and scoffed, "Oh, don’t pretend you took that task out of loyalty. You took it because you thought it would wipe away your parents’ sins... make the phoenixes forgive you."

Vivian’s eyes tightened. "I didn’t do it for forgiveness."

"Liar," Elyndra snapped instantly, "You ran to the human world with her because you wanted to hide from our clan’s shame."

"No," Vivian’s voice sharpened, "I went because she would have died here. Because she had no one left. Because her mother trusted me more than anyone else."

Elyndra rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Oh please. That woman trusted everyone. That was her flaw... always giving second chances, always believing the best in people."

Her smile curled, slow and poisonous, "And it was probably hereditary. Her stupid daughter trusts easily too..."

Vivian’s reflection went still. A faint tremor ran through the mirror’s surface, not out of fear, but of barely restrained fury.

"Don’t speak about her like that," Vivian warned quietly.

Elyndra’s grin widened.

"Oh, I’ll speak about her however I want. Especially now that I’m the one wearing her skin. Sleeping in her bed. Touching her husband." She hummed, tilting her head. "And of course... carrying her little secret."

Vivian’s eyes flickered to Elyndra’s hand hovering over Seraphina’s stomach.

"Stop," she whispered, her voice trembling with the weight of every vow she made the night Seraphina’s mother died.

But Elyndra only laughed.

"Why should I?" she said lightly. "She trusted everyone... me included."

A cold smile curled on her lips, "And I suppose I should thank you, Vivian."

Vivian stiffened.

Elyndra tilted her head, savoring the moment, "That precious little book you gave her... The Oracle’s gift to the true-blood line?"

Her smile sharpened, "You actually did a wonderful job."