LOGINLife continued to move forward as it always should.Seraphina eventually listened to the two people who loved her most.Dominic and Althea."You've spent your whole life saving everyone else, Mama. And sacrificing your own happiness." Althea had told her. She hugged Seraphina lovingly. "It's time someone makes you happy."Months later, Seraphina finally reunited with Esteban.The young man she had loved long before duty separated them. This time, neither family expectations nor old loyalties stood in their way.Dominic personally transferred ownership of the beautiful Valmont Estate to them."You deserve your own beginning, Mama." He informed when he gave her the deed and saw the surprised look on her face. “Besides, you and Esteban had a lot of things to catch up. I’m sure he wants that.”Seraphina accepted and Valmont quickly became famous for hosting family gatherings that somehow always ended with Dominic losing spectacularly at board games to Esteban.He maintained the games were
Five years later...The Valtieri Estate no longer carried the weight of ghosts. Where fear had once lingered in every corridor, laughter now echoed through its halls.The underground chambers remained exactly where they had always been, hidden beneath centuries of stone, but no longer representing secrets that divided a family. They had become history, remembered, respected, and protected.Dominic had made one promise the day they returned to the estate."No child of mine will ever fear this house." He vowed solemnly.He kept it.The music room was once again simply a music room.Children raced through its polished floors without knowing what lay beneath.Nicholas had long since learned the truth of the Seat, but only because one day it would become part of his inheritance and not as a throne of power. A covenant of service.Until then, he remained exactly what Dominic and Althea wanted him to be.A little boy growing up surrounded by love.The Estate itself had changed even if old
One month later life had begun to resemble something wonderfully ordinary.The nightmares came less often despite the scars still remaining. However, that no longer defined each day.The bullet wounds had faded into thin silver lines across Althea's chest and abdomen.She still tired more quickly than she cared to admit, though Helena continued to monitor her recovery with unwavering vigilance.Her strength had returned enough that she no longer needed frequent rests, yet her father and mother still often reminded her that healing from such profound blood loss was measured in months, not weeks.For once, Althea listened.Mostly.Blackstone, however, was unusually lively before sunrise."Nico." Dominic called from downstairs. "We leave in ten minutes.""I'm almost ready!" Came Nicholas’ excited voice from upstairs.Another minute passed and then another but Nico has still not appeared from above.Dominic looked toward Althea."What do you think he's doing?""Checking his backpack for t
The silence beyond the Hall of Keepers was unlike anything Dominic had ever experienced.It wasn't merely the absence of sound, as if the walls are listening.No distant echoes.Only stillness.The ancient stone door at the end of the Hall stood nearly four meters high, carved from a single slab of obsidian-black granite veined with silver that shimmered beneath the lantern light.Unlike every passage before it, there were no handles, hinges and locks. The way it looked from their point of view, nothing suggested that it could even be opened.Lorenzo stopped several paces away."This..." He said quietly. “Is where my duty ends."Dominic frowned."What do you mean?" He asked.The old Keeper smiled sadly. "Dominic, for forty years I have guarded this Hall." He started to explained gently. "I have walked every step you have walked. I have read every name and preserved every record."He looked toward the immense stone door."But no Keeper has ever crossed beyond this threshold." He finall
The chamber remained silent.Lorenzo stood before the Seat with both hands resting lightly upon its weathered stone.Then, for the first time, he began to talk but not with the Seat.But with a name."The Valtieri family." He started calmly. “They did not create the Seat."Dominic frowned."What?" He questioned in surprised."It is older than your family, Dominic." Lorenzo explained. "Much older."Lorenzo turned toward the ancient wall behind the dais. Hidden within the stone were faded carvings no one had noticed before.Maps.Stars.Ancient symbols.Languages long forgotten."The first Valtieri was never a king." Lorenzo continued quietly. "He was never a ruler. He was chosen.”Althea looked closely at the carvings."They're not European." She commented quietly."No." Lorenzo answered. "They predate modern Europe."Althea looked at the symbols and a memory from when she was a child surfaced. It was of Benjamin, where he had once taught her to recognize civilizations through stonewo
Two months later, Blackstone no longer smelled like fear.For the first time since the night beneath the Valtieri Estate, there was no tension or fear and winter quietly surrendered to the early spring.Sunlight poured through the wide bedroom windows of the master’s bedroom within the Blackstone, bathing the room in warm gold.Outside, the gardens had begun to bloom again.Inside, life was slowly returning."No." Althea insisted as she folded her arms stubbornly. "I am perfectly capable of walking downstairs."Helena looked up from the medical chart she was pretending to read."No." She only stated calmly."I've already walked downstairs, Helena." Althea reminded."Yes, you did walk down." Helena responded as she closed the chart with a snap. "You nearly fainted walking back up.""I did not." The younger woman countered.Dominic looked over the top of his newspaper."You absolutely did, amore."Althea shot him a look."You are not helping, Dom." She snapped lightly."I'm trying to st
Morning arrived too quietly for the kind of fear Althea and Dominic had carried into the night.The curtains shifted gently from the soft wind slipping through the slightly opened balcony doors, pale sunlight stretching slowly across the room from the gaps on the boarded windows. It touched the tan
Althea kissed him again before Dominic could ask another question.Harder this time and with a bit of need.She kissed him like that because she wants to silence every thought inside her head through the warmth of his mouth against hers.Dominic caught her immediately, his hands settling firmly at
The halls of Blackstone had quieted again by the time Althea left the war room.Since last night, peace was no longer present along the halls.Just quieter.The kind of silence that followed after too many decisions had been made and too many people were already moving behind them.Guards remained
This chapter contains sexual content. Please read with caution.“I need this, Dom.” She murmured against him.It was not an explanation but more of the truth and Dominic didn’t question it.He understood because he needed it too.Not to escape but to feel some grounding and connection.Proof that t







