جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 240

Jasper’s POVI regained control of my expression before the shock on Ciara’s face could turn into a question I was not prepared to answer.Nyssara.I could not believe I had called her that aloud.For years, I had guarded that name more carefully than my own life. Oracle had taken memories from me, buried others beneath spells and filled the missing spaces with commands, but Nyssara had remained somewhere deeper than everything he touched. Sometimes she appeared in my dreams as nothing more than a shadow covered in silver light. Other times, I heard her voice calling from a place I could never reach.Yet I always knew her.The eyes changed, face changed but the warmth of her soul did not.Ciara had not awakened. I could see that clearly from the confusion in her expression. She did not know why the name had left my mouth, and she certainly did not understand what had just happened when she caught me.But I did.No ordinary human woman moved with that speed.Her body had reacted before

Ciara’s POVIt had been three days since we returned to the human realm, and the Blackthorne estate had not known peace since.The house was still filled with guards, servants and members of Jasper’s family, but it felt strangely empty. Most of them remained inside their rooms unless they had an important reason to come out. A few relatives had suddenly remembered urgent matters in other cities and travelled the morning after we arrived, while others had quietly moved to different properties without saying when they would return.Asher’s presence had frightened them more than I expected.Dax was powerful enough to silence an entire room simply by walking into it, but his anger was controlled. He calculated consequences before acting and gave people a chance to correct their mistakes, even when they did not deserve one. Asher however had no interest in any of that. He did not care about family reputations, human laws or the expensive furniture surrounding him. If someone annoyed him,

Ciara’s POVMy eyes went straight to Inara.“Hide.”The word left my mouth before I could think, and I tightened my grip on her hand as panic spread through my chest. It made no sense to ask her to hide. The estate was already surrounded by guards, and anyone who had discovered our arrival would know she was here too, but fear was rarely reasonable. All I could think about was the men who had hunted her, the false report of her death and the possibility that the people waiting beyond the dining room had come to finish what they started.Inara looked at me for a moment, then shook her head.“I can’t hide, Ciara. Whoever sent people after me already knows I survived and I'm here.”“That doesn’t mean you should walk out there and stand in front of them.”“It means hiding would change nothing.”My heart continued to pound so hard that I could hear it inside my ears. The moment Ella announced that Mr. and Mrs. Dagon were waiting at the entrance, the little strength I had gathered over the

Inara’s povMy father laughed harshly, but it did not sound confident a bit. I know my father and right now, I could swear he was afraid, “You think I am afraid of threats?”“No. I think you are too arrogant to recognize one.”Asher’s voice remained calm and that calm was more frightening than shouting.“Death would be easy. One cut and you are finished. I would not waste something that merciful on you. I would remove everything you use to frighten her, slowly, then leave you alive long enough to understand that your daughter survived you.”My father’s face lost some of its colour and for the first time in my life, I watched Dante struggle to answer.He had always been impossible to silence. People lowered their heads when he entered rooms. Men twice his size measured their words around him, and even the rest of the Dagon family rarely challenged him once his temper rose.Yet Asher stood in front of him as if he were nothing but just an ugly old man who had thrown something at the wro

Ciara’s povThe look on his face held the same cold, unreadable expression I remembered from the day my brother died and right now, seeing me, there was no joy in seeing me after so long, no relief that I was safe, not even anger. He looked at me as though I were a matter he had come to settle.My mother sat beside him.From across the room, the expensive dress, carefully styled hair and jewellery made her look as composed as always, but now that I was paying attention, I saw what the presentation was hiding. The makeup beneath one of her eyes was heavier, and there was a faint swelling near her cheekbone that the powder had not fully concealed. She kept one arm close to her body, moving stiffly whenever she adjusted her position.My stomach turned.Had my father hit her again?I could not be sure. There could have been another explanation, but my mind went there because I had seen enough throughout my childhood to know it was possible.I looked away before she noticed me staring and