The car raced through winding country roads, trees blurring past like ghosts. I sat in the backseat, breath shallow, Elias beside me...alert, scanning every shadow.
I had never seen him like this before.
So cold. So calculating.
So… trained.
> “How long?” i finally asked, voice rough.
Elias didn’t look at me. “Since the day you arrived at the countryside house. Your father reached out to me three days before that.”
I let the silence gnaw at the space between us.
“I don’t know whether I hate you for lying,” i whispered, “or hate myself for letting you in.”
That made him glance over. His jaw clenched. “I never lied about how I felt. Only about why I was there.”
I turned to the window, fighting the ache in my chest. “What do they want from me?”
Elias didn’t answer immediately.
Then:
> “Your name, Roushii... carries weight. Your mother’s side of the family—do you remember them?”
I froze.
“I was told never to ask,” i murmured.
Elias nodded grimly. “Because they weren’t just influential. They were dangerous. They were exiled from your father's family decades ago. But power like that doesn’t just die it waits.”
And now, it had woken up.
They wanted me.
The heir who disappeared.
The girl who didn’t know her blood was worth more than she could ever imagine.
> “They’re trying to reclaim what they think is theirs,” Elias said. “And you… are the key.”
We reached the old estate before sunrise.
I hadn’t been home in years. The towering gates, the stone lions, the ivy-covered walls all of it felt like walking back into a dream i had buried.
But it wasn’t safety that waited.
It was answers.
My father stood waiting at the entrance.
Grey in his beard now. Lines deeper. But his eyes still sharp. Still heavy with regret.
“Roushii,” he said, softly. “You’re home.”
I didn’t run to him. Didn’t speak.
Just walked past him.
“Let’s get this over with,” i said
Inside, the council was already gathered.
Old men and women who ruled behind curtains and bloodlines. Elias stood behind me like a silent shield.
They laid it all bare:
Her mother’s family the Shavras—were staging a return. Kidnapping Roushii was step one. A power play. A declaration.
They didn’t want me dead.
They wanted me to lead them.
To rise as a symbol against the very family that cast them out.
> “They think you’ve been raised soft. Weak. That you’ll bend to them.”
My father looked at me now, broken with guilt. “But I know you won’t.”
I stood, voice steady. “And what if I did? What if I’m tired of being caught between monsters in different masks?”
Everyone went still.
Elias stepped forward.
> “Then I go with you,” he said.
Eyes turned.
I looked at him, stunned.
“You’re not sworn to me anymore,” I said bitterly. “Your duty ends here.”
“No,” Elias said quietly. “My duty ended the moment I started caring. Everything after that... was a choice.”
Outside, thunder cracked.
A message arrived.
No more warnings. No more waiting.
At dawn, we come for what’s ours.
The estate would become a battlefield by morning.
And in the middle of it stood a girl who had tried to disappear…
…and a man who had watched over her every day without asking for anything in return.
Dawn cracked over the estate like a gunshot.
I stood on the balcony overlooking the sprawling grounds, the storm from last night leaving the air sharp and clean. Below, the courtyard was already buzzing guards preparing, family members whispering like a war was about to consume them all.
My heart was a storm of its own.
Beside me , Elias’s steady presence was the only anchor i trusted.
“You ready?” he asked, voice low.
I met his eyes, biting back the fear i had buried deep.
“I’m done running,” i said. “But this time… I’m not just surviving.”
He nodded. “Then let’s finish this.”
Inside the council chamber, the family elders sat stiff and expectant.
My father looked at me with a mixture of pride and sorrow.
“Roushii, your mother’s family will come. You can either face them as their pawn or as their queen.”
I took a breath, memories flashing the years of silence, the ache of abandonment, the fire that nearly claimed my life, and Elias’s voice when i finally opened the door.
No.
I wouldn’t be a pawn.
I wouldn’t be a victim.
I am my own storm.
Hours later, the gates burst open.
The Shavra faction poured in like a wave
elegant, fierce, ruthless.
But i stood tall, flanked by Elias and loyal family members who had stayed in the shadows, waiting for me to choose.
The battle was brutal but brief.
Not just of weapons, but words and wills.
I faced the leader of the Shavras a woman who looked like a mirror of everything i had feared in myself.
“Join us,” the woman said. “Lead us back to power.”
My voice was cold fire.
“I’m not here to lead your war. I’m here to end it.”
I turned.
The Shavras faltered.
The line between family and foe blurred, but my choice was clear.
After the dust settled, Elias caught my hand.
“You made the right choice.”
I smiled, tired but fierce.
“I don’t need a legacy I didn’t choose.”
He squeezed my hand.
“But I’ll walk beside you, whatever path you take.”
Our eyes locked.
In that moment no secrets, no fear just two souls who had fought their own battles and found something stronger than blood or duty.
