Elena
*****Guest House — Moments later*****
The house was too quiet.
Too quiet for what I knew was coming.
The twins were asleep again, curled against each other, their breaths soft and peaceful, and the only calm left in my life.
I stood by the window, watching the sky shift from soft orange to a harsher morning yellow. The silence should’ve comforted me… but instead, it felt like the moment before a storm breaks everything in its path.
The prophecy wouldn’t stop echoing inside my head.
One to save the world.
One to destroy it.
No.
I wasn’t accepting that.
Not today.
Not ever.
A sharp knock rattled the door.
Not Lucian’s knock.
Not Chase’s.
This one sounded… urgent.
I turned quickly. “Come in!”
The door burst open and Rowan stumbled inside, chest heaving, eyes wide with
