AriaEdrin laughs softly.“A goddess doesn’t vanish,” he says. “She changes shape. She becomes an echo. A splinter.” He tilts his head. “And echoes love places like this. Places full of memory.”The sunlight in the gallery dims for a heartbeat. Not because clouds pass overhead, but because the castle shifts. A soft creak runs along the ceiling, like the building is listening harder. I press my palms against the window frame, trying to ground myself.“You said you won,” I whisper. “How?”Edrin’s expression flickers again, and something raw beneath the practiced calm comes to the surface.“I did what the Game demanded,” he says simply.My stomach twists. “You killed.”His jaw tightens.“I chose,” he corrects.The word hits me like a slap, because choice is the language of this place, the only currency that ever mattered. I feel Violet stir faintly in my mind, uneasy.‘Don’t trust him,’ she whispers.“Who did you choose?” I ask, voice low.Edrin’s eyes darken.“My brother,” he says.T
Last Updated : 2026-02-14 Read more