Chapter 5: Ashes in Her Veins

---

It rained for two days straight.

Elarion’s skies wept black clouds, turning streets into rivers and filling the Valeborne estate with a strange, oppressive quiet. Aria sat at the window through it all, watching the world drown while her mind churned with the words of the Crown Prince.

'Stop wandering into nightmares.'

His eyes haunted her. Dark and sharp, like twin blades pressed against her throat, as though he could see through her, strip away the fragile facade of Aria Valeborne and lay bare the soul of an outsider who didn’t belong here.

And maybe he already had.

---

On the morning of the third day, a summons arrived.

This time, not from the palace.

From Eris.

Maren found her on the balcony, drenched to the bone and shivering despite the cloak she wore.

“You can’t stay out here,” Maren said. “You’ll fall ill.”

Aria didn’t answer.

The letter clutched in her hand spoke loud enough.

It was unsigned, written in Eris’s script but marred by ink blotches that made it hard to read — as though her hand had been shaking when she wrote it.

"Come to my chambers. Alone. Tonight. Midnight."

No other explanation.

---

That night, the estate felt different.

The corridors were silent, even the servants nowhere to be seen. Shadows clung to the walls like watchful sentries as Aria made her way up the spiral staircase, every creak of her slippers echoing too loud in the dark.

She reached Eris’s door and hesitated.

For all the time she’d spent here since waking in this world, she had never been inside her sister’s personal chambers.

What secrets would she find waiting?

She knocked.

A voice answered.

“Enter.”

---

The room was dark but alive with embers. Dozens of candles cast trembling light across the floor. Eris stood by the hearth, still in her evening gown, but something about her posture — too rigid, too brittle — screamed that she’d been standing like that for hours.

Aria shut the door behind her.

“You sent for me,” she said softly.

Eris didn’t turn. “I did.”

The silence between them stretched, filling the air with heat and something sharp enough to cut.

When Eris finally spoke, her voice was quiet and hoarse.

“You’re planning something.”

Aria’s heart skipped.

“You’ve been sneaking out,” Eris continued, still staring into the fire. “Writing letters to ghosts. Meeting strangers. I can feel it. Every time you walk past me, I feel it — that you’re not the same girl I once knew.”

Aria bit the inside of her cheek.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she lied.

Eris laughed — a hollow sound.

“You’re a terrible liar, Aria.”

The way she said her name — so sharp, so full of hurt — made Aria’s chest ache.

Finally, Eris turned to face her.

Her eyes glimmered wet in the candlelight. But her expression stayed cold.

“You’ve been digging where you shouldn’t. You’ve been looking into things that can’t be undone. Do you think I don’t know about the fire? About the cult? About…”

Her voice cracked.

“About why I failed to save you?”

Aria froze.

Eris stepped closer, her hands clenching at her sides.

“I stood there that night,” she whispered. “I heard you screaming. And I couldn’t reach you. I couldn’t stop it. Every second since then has been a punishment I earned.”

Aria felt her own eyes burn.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she said, her voice trembling. “You couldn’t have—”

“Don’t,” Eris snapped, but her voice broke halfway through.

Then she covered her mouth, shaking, her composure crumbling right before Aria’s eyes.

“I killed you,” she gasped. “Maybe not with my own hands, but I killed you all the same. You trusted me, and I let them tear you apart.”

Aria stepped forward.

Eris flinched back.

But Aria didn’t stop.

She wrapped her arms around her sister and held her tight, even as Eris stiffened like stone.

“You didn’t kill me,” Aria said. “You’re the reason I’m still here.”

Eris let out a sound like a sob strangled into silence. Her fingers dug into Aria’s back, clutching her as though she might vanish if she let go.

And for a while, neither of them moved.

---

But even broken hearts didn’t stop the clock.

The royal banquet was ten days away.

And the longer Aria stayed in Eris’s arms, the more she felt it — the gnawing sense that something was wrong.

That her sister was keeping secrets, even now.

And that somehow, heartbreak alone couldn’t explain the darkness pooling behind her violet eyes.

---

The next morning, she found her proof.

She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop.

But passing by the west wing library, she heard Eris’s voice through the cracked door.

“…she suspects nothing,” Eris was saying. “She’s so caught up in playing heroine she doesn’t even see the knife at her back.”

Aria froze.

Another voice answered — low, male, smooth. One she didn’t recognize.

“And when the fire comes again?”

Eris’s voice turned sharp.

“This time,” she said, “she’ll burn for real.”

---

Aria fled before she could hear more.

Her chest felt hollow. Her lungs wouldn’t work.

Her sister. Her sister.

The only person she thought she could trust.

But in the end…

Even Eris had chosen the Crownless Flame.

---

That night, she sat in her room with the curtains drawn, staring at her own trembling hands.

The black rose still sat in its glass bottle on her desk, its petals darker than ever.

And for the first time since arriving in this world…

Aria cried.

Silent, bitter tears that fell into her lap as she whispered to herself:

“I don’t want to die here.”

But deep down, she knew…

Even if she lived…

Her heart had already begun to turn to ash.

---

End of Chapter Five.

---

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***