Chapter 26: The Masked Ball
(Elena's POV)
It was like waking up from someone else's nightmare the next morning. The cabin was gone; it had burned down. The smell of smoke and iron was still in the air in the forest. Lucian hadn't said much since the explosion, but his silence was worse than any injury.
I sat by the river, staring at my reflection. The mark on my wrist still pulsed faintly; it wasn't burning anymore, but it was still alive, like it was breathing under my skin. I could almost hear whispers every time I touched it. The voice of my mother. My dad's. Echo's s of a family line I never asked for.
Lucian's shadow fell on me. "We have to go."
"Where?"I asked, my voice sharper than I meant it to be.
His eyes, which were golden, met mine. "To the gathering. The Banquet of Masks
