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Chapter 8

Auteur: Snow
With Elara falling into public disgrace and private madness, the full, crushing weight of the disaster settled on Liam's shoulders.

He was the head of the family now, the one supposed to be holding the crumbling pieces together. And he was failing. Spectacularly.

I watched the change in him. The confident, impatient brother who had always had an answer, a plan, a command, became a haunted, hollowed-out man.

The phone calls from the board became less sympathetic, more aggressive. Key business partners, "concerned about the negative publicity," started pulling out of deals. The word "liability" was whispered in meetings he no longer attended.

He stopped sleeping. I'd see him pacing the halls long after midnight, a shadow in his own home, his footsteps echoing in the vast, empty space. Then, he found a solution. A temporary, destructive one.

The locked liquor cabinet in our father's old study, once a display of expensive, untouched bottles, became his refuge. First, it was a glass of w
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  • The Siren's Scion   Chapter 12

    The air in the shattered room was thick enough to choke on. Liam stood frozen in the doorway, his face a palimpsest of confusion, duty, and a dawning, terrifying clarity. Across from him, Elara was on her feet, no longer the fragile wraith but a conduit of raw, untempered fury. Her gaze was locked on Aunt Cordelia, the architect of our ruin."It was you!" Elara's voice ripped through the silence, stripped of all its practiced hysterics. "All of it! The whispers, the 'accidents'… the way I felt about Isla! You poisoned me!"Aunt Cordelia's mask of concerned benevolence slipped, revealing the cold, polished marble of her true face. "Poisoned you?" she echoed, her voice a silken sneer. "I nurtured you. I protected you from your own pathetic weakness. This family's legacy—the true Siren's birthright—was meant for me! Not for a broken doll like you, or that stubborn, useless girl." Her eyes flickered toward my shimmering form. "But it skipped me, landing in you two. So I decided if I c

  • The Siren's Scion   Chapter 11

    Our plan was simple in its deceit: we would feed Cordelia's bottomless greed to draw her into the open. Elara began her performance, a masterpiece of decline. She refused meals, picking listlessly at food. Her delicate tremors returned, a constant, visible vibration. She spent hours muttering to the walls, her eyes wide with a manufactured terror, painting herself as a vessel cracking under pressure, its contents about to spill out and be lost forever.Liam was beside himself, his own guilt and fear a heavy weight in the house. He watched her deterioration with a helpless agony.Cordelia observed it all with the serene patience of a spider in its web."The strain is too much for her, Liam," she told him one evening, her voice heavy with fake concern. "The hateful spirit preys on her weakness. The gift within her is becoming unstable. If we don't act soon, it could consume her from the inside out... or worse, vanish completely.""What can we do?" Liam asked, his voice ragged with despe

  • The Siren's Scion   Chapter 10

    The knowledge settled in my core, a cold, heavy stone. Haunting Elara was pointless, like kicking a dog for its master's crimes. I had to reach her, the real her, the mind buried under layers of poison.I found her later in the bathroom, staring at her hollow-eyed reflection as if she didn't recognize the person staring back. The bandages on her hand were fresh, but her eyes held a sliver of something new—a clear, hopeless despair. The ring's influence, for the moment, was weak.I took a breath I didn't need and focused all my will. I didn't push with anger, but with a sharp, clear thought, aiming for that fragile sliver of clarity."It wasn't you."Elara flinched, her eyes darting around the empty room. "Go away," she whispered, her voice raw. "Just leave me alone.""She's been using you. Lying to you. The ring... it's the source.""Liar!" she hissed, her hands gripping the porcelain sink until her knuckles turned white. "You're just trying to confuse me! You want to turn everyone aga

  • The Siren's Scion   Chapter 9

    A new presence cut through the house's feverish atmosphere of guilt and fear. Aunt Cordelia arrived, a vision of sharp elegance. Her movements were precise, her black suit severe. Her smile towards Liam was thin and did not reach her eyes."My poor boy," she said, her voice a smooth, cool balm that seemed to soothe his raw edges. "I came the moment I heard. The news... it's unspeakable. And Elara... how is the poor darling holding up?"Liam, a tightly coiled spring of stress, seemed to weaken in her presence. Here was an adult, someone who seemed in control. "Aunt Cordelia. It's... a nightmare. Elara isn't well. She's seeing things, hearing things..."She's seeing me, I thought from my perch on the staircase, a sliver of cold satisfaction piercing my numbness."The mind is a fragile thing under such trauma," Cordelia murmured, her sharp, grey eyes sweeping the foyer, missing nothing. Her gaze passed over the space I occupied, and for a fleeting second, it seemed to pause. A faint, know

  • The Siren's Scion   Chapter 8

    With Elara falling into public disgrace and private madness, the full, crushing weight of the disaster settled on Liam's shoulders. He was the head of the family now, the one supposed to be holding the crumbling pieces together. And he was failing. Spectacularly.I watched the change in him. The confident, impatient brother who had always had an answer, a plan, a command, became a haunted, hollowed-out man. The phone calls from the board became less sympathetic, more aggressive. Key business partners, "concerned about the negative publicity," started pulling out of deals. The word "liability" was whispered in meetings he no longer attended.He stopped sleeping. I'd see him pacing the halls long after midnight, a shadow in his own home, his footsteps echoing in the vast, empty space. Then, he found a solution. A temporary, destructive one. The locked liquor cabinet in our father's old study, once a display of expensive, untouched bottles, became his refuge. First, it was a glass of w

  • The Siren's Scion   Chapter 7

    The fallout from the interview was immediate and glorious. Liam's phone became a permanent attachment to his ear, his voice a strained mix of fury and forced calm as he dealt with calls from the board of directors, spooked business partners, and family lawyers. The family name, once a symbol of old money and good reputation, was now a trending topic for all the wrong reasons. Reporters became permanent fixtures at our gate, their long-lens cameras pointed at the house.Elara fared the worst. The public, who had once pitied the "Fragile Mermaid," now painted her as a manipulative, possibly evil monster. Online forums lit up with theories. "She drove the quiet sister to suicide." "The Vance girl is possessed." If only they knew how close they were to the truth. I decided to help their imagination along.It started the night after the interview. Elara had been given strong medicine, a private doctor summoned to deal with her "hysterical breakdown." She was locked in her silk-padded ro

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