The night air tasted like metal. Ariella’s pulse thundered in her ears as the hidden passage groaned shut behind them. The weight of stone sealed them in darkness, but it was Elian’s presence beside her that unsettled her the most.
The flicker of the small lamp he carried danced shadows across the ancient walls. Dust floated in the air, disturbed after years of silence, and the passage smelled of damp earth and secrets.
Ariella hugged her arms tightly around herself, as though holding back the cold that seeped into her bones. She couldn’t silence the echo of Elian’s earlier words:" You have no idea who you really are."
Her voice, sharp against the silence, cut through the stale air.
“What did you mean by that?”
Elian didn’t look at her. His jaw was clenched, his eyes fixed on the dark
