Elara woke up to the scent of pine, woodsmoke, and a vague, comforting awareness of a dozen powerful creatures sleeping nearby. It was strange, but infinitely preferable to waking up to the scent of old silver polish and the constant, low-level anxiety of the city. Rhys, true to his word, had provided safety—a wild, fiercely loyal safety, but safety nonetheless.
She spent the morning talking with members of the Blackwood pack. They were loud, fiercely protective, and shockingly grounded. They taught her about scent tracking, which she was hilariously bad at (she smelled too much like Earl Grey tea and metallic dust), but they admired her quick wit and sharp eye when she helped an older wolf repair a broken leather harness using her antique skills.
However, as the afternoon shadows lengthened, the peace felt fragile. She knew Cassian wouldn't just let her go. Vampires, she suspected, did not handle being stood up well, especially when the missing item was a potential species-altering key.
As Elara was trying (and failing) to whittle a protective charm, a silver-white envelope, impossibly clean and crisp, appeared seemingly out of nowhere on the small wooden table beside her. There was no sound of arrival, no scent of intrusion—just the pristine envelope resting between her tea mug and the splintered wood.
"Well, that's rude," she muttered, picking it up cautiously. It felt heavy, sealed with deep crimson wax stamped with an unfamiliar, but undeniably regal, crest—a stylized bat wing wrapping around a blooming rose.
Rhys, who had been sparring nearby, immediately stiffened upon seeing the seal. "Cassian," he spat out, his voice low and dangerous.
"Indeed," Elara sighed, breaking the seal with her thumbnail. It cracked with a tiny, distinct sound. "The pale noble decided to skip the whole 'breaking and entering' phase and go straight to formal correspondence. How gentlemanly."
She unfolded the single sheet of thick parchment and began to read aloud, purely to annoy Rhys:
"To Miss Elara Vance, The Unpredictable Heir,
I trust your rustic sojourn is proving… enlightening. However, enlightenment is best achieved with proper resources, not campfire stories.
The danger you fled is not constrained by forest boundaries. They are closing in, and the pack's defenses, while admirable in their brute force, lack the necessary finesse to anticipate high-level strategic maneuvers. I know where your parents' final path leads, and I possess the documentation to prove it.
I invite you to my sanctuary—not as a prisoner, but as an esteemed guest—to review these documents. I will provide the answers you seek regarding your lineage and the true nature of your affliction. I await your reply by midnight, beneath the oldest oak at the edge of this valley. If you do not arrive, I shall assume you are content to remain ignorant, and I will no longer be responsible for the inevitable consequences of that ignorance.
Sincerely, C. De La Roche (Lord of the Night Speakers)"
Elara finished reading and looked up. Rhys was vibrating with barely contained fury.
"He is baiting us, Elara! He knows we won't let him have you, and he knows we won't let you wander off alone to meet his kind!" Rhys paced the small cabin floor. "The 'oldest oak'? That's practically his front yard boundary! He's trying to force a confrontation, using your parents' memory as a cheap lure!"
"It's working, though," Elara admitted quietly. She looked down at the letter. "He knows things, Rhys. He mentioned the true nature of my affliction. And my parents' final path. That's exactly what I need to know."
"You can't trust him! He offers knowledge as leverage, Elara! That's how they operate. They give you a taste of the truth, just enough to bind you to their web," Rhys pleaded, stopping in front of her. His werewolf instincts were screaming at him to tear the letter to shreds and bury Cassian's emissaries.
"I know it's a gamble," Elara said, standing up. She walked towards the window, looking out into the deepening twilight. "But I'm done hiding in your den, Rhys. I need concrete evidence about my parents. If Cassian has documentation, I need to see it. I need to know what they were protecting me from."
She turned back to Rhys, her expression serious but calm. "I'm not choosing his cage, Rhys. I'm choosing information. And I'm not going alone."
Rhys's tension eased slightly. "You're not going to try and sneak off by yourself, are you? Because if you do, I'm going to chain you to a very sturdy tree until you come to your senses."
Elara gave him a wry smile. "Duly noted. But I learned something in that alleyway: I can protect myself for a few seconds. And if I'm going to negotiate with a vampire lord who probably drinks blood straight from the crystal decanter, I need my best, most fiercely loyal bodyguard."
She met the eyes of the giant wolf, who let out a supportive, if slightly dopey, woof.
"You're coming with me, big guy. You'll be my walking, growling shield. And Rhys," she added, turning to the werewolf, her eyes sparkling with a mixture of determination and mischief, "you can come too. Just try not to shift into full wolf mode and scare the ancient vampire into biting the furniture. I'd hate to have to repair his antique chaise lounge later."
Rhys looked from Elara's determined face to the imposing wolf, then back again. A reluctant smile finally touched his lips. He realized he wouldn't win this argument. Elara Vance was clearly determined to walk into the lion's—or rather, the vampire's—den, but she was taking her own backup.
"Fine," Rhys conceded, sighing dramatically. "But if Cassian tries anything remotely coercive, I swear by the moon, I will turn that limo into scrap metal. And you, Elara, are staying right behind me. No solo detective work in vampire territory. Deal?"
Elara nodded, a thrill shooting through her. She was walking straight into the viper's nest, armed with a cryptic letter and two very powerful, very opinionated escorts. It was insane. It was reckless. It was exactly what she needed to start learning how to fight back.
"Deal, Blackwood," she confirmed. "Let's go see what kind of secrets Lord Cassian has decided to share tonight."