LOGINThe door creaked open a crack. Jason pushed it wider.Amara stood with her back to him, facing the window. She stared out at nothing in particular.Jason had seen this exact scene countless times when he lived here before. But this time, he didn't look at her. He looked at her shadow instead. It was faint against the wall, yet something about it was wrong. A second head seemed to overlap hers.The dim light distorted the silhouette. It looked like a larger outline wrapped around a smaller one, one dark and solid, the other pale and barely there."My godfather said someone would come looking for me. I never imagined it would be you."Amara turned around. Her face was nothing like before. She looked like a completely different person. Her eyes especially had changed. The dark pupils were gone. In their place was amber, with a tiny black point at the center and pale yellow radiating outward to fill the iris. The whites of her eyes had turned a deep, murky brown, like clouds of dark s
"If you want to stay, you're welcome to."The flat, offhand offer brought a smirk to Jason's face."That's right." He straightened, satisfied with himself. "I already worked it out with Amara. From here on out, as long as you acknowledge me as the head of the family and defer to me in all things, the doors of this house will always be open to you."Jason stepped forward and took his place beside Amara. Without prompting, she shifted half a step back, making it clear she had agreed to his terms: return to the family, with Jason at its head.Giana stumbled backward, barely keeping her footing. She pressed a hand to her temple as her head throbbed. "Amara, what are you talking about? Jason? He publicly refused to join our family. He just finished insulting our mother to our faces..."She tried to reach Amara, to pull her back from the brink.Amara cut her off with a single wave of her hand. "Save it. One question. Are you staying with the family, or not?""Amara!" Hilda had heard e
Hilda's mind took a moment to catch up. She repeated the word under her breath, almost to herself. "Essence?"Then her face flushed. She looked at the smudges on the clothes again, and everything clicked into place."You people are disgusting!"They had used her clothes for that and her photographs!A surge of killing intent flashed in her eyes.She had grown up sheltered, with high standards from the start. No man had ever seemed worthy of her attention, and she had never gotten close enough to anyone to learn what she now realized she should have known.Still, she had seen enough in books and on screen to understand. And now she did. These men were vile.'If you have needs, find a girlfriend. If not, at least keep it to yourself. How could anyone use another person's clothes and photographs for something like this?'That was also why Giana had walked out of her room empty-handed. She hadn't known what state Hilda's room was in, but the moment she opened her own door, a dense,
Then Hilda shoved it open. The sound that tried to escape her throat died before it could emerge.She should have seen it coming.Jason had turned the family villa into an event venue. Every door had stood open when they arrived.Of course the rooms hadn't been left untouched. The things she had been thinking about, the things she treasured, were gone.The gifts Oscar had given her were gone. In their place was wreckage. Chairs lay overturned, cabinet doors hung open, and clothes had been pulled out and abandoned where they fell.A few intimate items had been rummaged through and left in a condition she didn't want to examine too closely."This... This is..." Hilda crouched and began gathering the clothes from the floor. These had been things she loved, and they had been treated like this.She kept talking herself through it. "It's fine. They're just dirty. Take them home, wash them, and the resale market will still want them."The loss weighed heavily on her chest, but the rel
Giana had been about to leave, but Jason's words stopped her in her tracks.She was a novelist. Not a celebrated one, but a working writer.Writing required more than talent. It required accumulation. A line overheard somewhere, a story picked up in passing, a thought that flashed through the mind and vanished before it could be named. All of it had to be captured and preserved. No one sat down and poured out a million words from nothing.She had kept notes since childhood, long before smartphones, when a small notebook and a pen were the only tools available. Over the years, she had filled several of them.During the past few days, the filler content she had taken on had come easily enough. Even so, something kept nagging at her. She had once worked out a framework, a set of notes she had written for herself, and it was sitting in that notebook.She remembered writing it. She couldn't remember what it said.As a result, she had been working around it, substituting similar materi
Laughter rippled through the room.Giana and Hilda's faces darkened as they glanced at Amara. Nothing Jason had said seemed to have reached her at all.'Does she actually believe that? That can't be right.'The same thought crossed both their minds at the same moment."Amara, let's go. You still need to take your medication.""Jason, don't take any of this to heart. Amara has been through a lot since she left the family. She's not quite herself. Sorry for the disruption. We're leaving right now."One sister took Amara's arm. The other tapped the side of her head and gave Jason an apologetic look. The gesture said everything words didn't.Amara shook them both off. "Stand aside. Even if no one here is reporting to Oscar, Jason, you have your reasons. And I know that. I believe in you. You will bring the family back to where it belongs."She spoke with complete sincerity.Jason frowned.Was this really the Amara he knew? Had she actually lost her mind?"All right, all right. Y
Running the current in reverse was even more dangerous. It was like driving the wrong way on a highway. Drifting across a lane line carried risk. Going fully against the flow made a collision inevitable.'There is no going back now.' Oscar made his decision, and the vitalis flowed from his palms in
Oscar settled onto the bed cross-legged. He reviewed what he had read, confirmed the method in his mind, and began.His hands started to tremble. The movements were small and controlled, almost imperceptible.Vitalis could not be created from nothing, nor did it remain in one place. When it had ex
"I don't know. When I went to speak with him myself, he barely acknowledged me," Amara replied. "Maybe I offended him somehow through my business dealings. Either way, we've already had plenty of doctors examine them. We don't specifically need Dr. Hoffman. Elara and Freya's recovery depends on them
"He was Father's adopted son too. I don't think we should have forced him out. Amara, I want you to bring him back."The sitting room fell silent. Every sister except Amara stared at Giana.Oscar had been expelled in this very room. It had happened only a short time ago. And now Giana was asking f







