The Seventh Vow

Chapter 14: The vale publishing

The words followed Seraphina all the way back to Ashbourne.

Beneath Vale Publishing.

She sat silently in the back seat, staring through the rain-streaked window as the city gradually appeared ahead of them.

Her father’s company.

The place where she’d spent countless afternoons as a child.

The place she’d always associated with books, meetings, laughter, and her father’s voice.

And apparently, beneath it, there was a secret that had existed for generations.

Seraphina looked at Damien.

“You knew.”

He didn’t deny it.

“I suspected.”

“That’s not the same thing.”

“No.”

“Then how did you know there was something beneath the building?”

“Edward showed me the entrance once.”

Her eyebrows rose.

“When?”

“Twenty years ago.”

She looked away.

Twenty years.

That number seemed to follow her everywhere.

Twenty years since her mother disappeared.

Twenty years since the photograph.

Twenty years since the Covenant began erasing pieces of her life.

She looked at Elena.

Her sister sat opposite her, unusually quiet.

“What happens when we get there?”

Elena looked at Damien.

“We find out whether the Seventh Vow still exists.”

“And if it does?”

Damien’s expression hardened.

“Then we find out who has been protecting it.”

The car slowed as they approached Vale Publishing.

Seraphina stared at the familiar building.

The company headquarters rose above the surrounding buildings, its historic stone facade contrasting with the modern glass extension her father had commissioned years earlier.

Nothing looked different.

Employees still moved through the revolving doors.

Cars still entered the underground parking area.

The world continued as though nothing had changed.

Yet Seraphina knew better.

There were secrets underneath this building.

Secrets her father had died protecting.

Damien parked in a private underground section.

Before anyone could exit, Seraphina noticed something.

A black sedan stood several spaces away.

Its engine was running.

“Damien.”

He followed her gaze.

His expression changed.

“Stay inside.”

The sedan suddenly accelerated.

Damien pulled his car forward.

The black vehicle sped toward the exit.

Elias, who had been following them in another vehicle, cut across the ramp.

The sedan swerved and disappeared through the security gates.

Damien watched it go.

“They knew we were coming.”

Seraphina felt a chill.

“How?”

Damien looked at her.

“Someone is watching the building.”

⸻

They entered Vale Publishing through a private elevator.

The reception floor was unusually quiet.

Seraphina recognized several employees.

They greeted her cautiously.

News of Edward’s death had spread throughout the company, but nobody seemed prepared for the sight of Seraphina arriving with Damien and Elena.

One receptionist stared at Elena.

Then at Seraphina.

Her face went pale.

Seraphina noticed.

“Do you know her?”

The receptionist immediately looked down.

“No, Miss Vale.”

Elena whispered,

“She does.”

They continued walking.

Seraphina stopped.

“Wait.”

She turned around.

The receptionist was still watching them.

“What’s your name?”

The young woman swallowed.

“Claire.”

“Claire, have you seen my sister before?”

Claire’s lips parted.

Before she could answer, a loud alarm suddenly sounded throughout the building.

Red lights began flashing.

Employees rushed toward the exits.

“What is happening?” Seraphina asked.

Damien grabbed her hand.

“Fire alarm.”

“But there’s no smoke.”

“Exactly.”

He looked toward Elias.

“Get everyone out.”

Elias nodded.

Seraphina stared at Damien.

“What about the vault?”

His expression became grim.

“They’re trying to flush us out.”

“Then we’re going down.”

He looked at her.

“You’re not afraid?”

“I’m terrified.”

She took a breath.

“But I’m tired of being afraid of things I don’t understand.”

Damien stared at her for a moment.

Then he nodded.

“Stay beside me.”

⸻

The entrance was hidden inside Edward’s old office.

Seraphina remembered the room immediately.

His desk.

His books.

The enormous window overlooking the city.

She walked toward the bookshelf.

“What did he show you?”

Damien pointed toward a row of antique books.

“The blue one.”

Seraphina pulled it free.

Nothing happened.

She frowned.

“Maybe the red one?”

“No.”

Damien stepped forward.

He pressed the spine of the blue book.

A mechanism clicked.

The entire bookshelf moved backward.

Seraphina stared.

A narrow staircase descended into darkness.

She looked at Damien.

“You knew this existed.”

“I told you.”

“No.”

She smiled faintly.

“You told me you suspected.”

A hint of amusement crossed his face.

“I was trying to be mysterious.”

“You’re terrible at it.”

They descended.

The staircase seemed endless.

The air grew colder.

Eventually, they reached a stone corridor.

At the end stood an enormous metal door.

Seven symbols were carved into its surface.

Seraphina approached.

Her pendant suddenly became warm.

She pulled it from beneath her collar.

The pendant glowed faintly.

Elena’s pendant did the same.

Damien stared.

“They’re responding to the door.”

Seraphina placed hers against the first symbol.

Nothing.

Elena stepped forward.

She placed hers beside it.

The door unlocked.

A deep mechanical sound echoed through the corridor.

Then the door opened.

Beyond it was a room larger than anything Seraphina had imagined.

Shelves covered every wall.

Documents filled them.

Photographs.

Ledgers.

Letters.

Boxes.

Names.

Thousands of them.

At the center stood a circular table.

Seven chairs surrounded it.

Six were empty.

One contained a leather-bound book.

Seraphina approached.

“That’s it.”

Damien nodded.

“The Seventh Vow.”

She reached for the book.

“Wait.”

He caught her wrist.

She looked at him.

“What?”

“There could be a trap.”

She stared at his hand around her wrist.

He released her immediately.

“Sorry.”

Seraphina shook her head.

Then she looked at the book.

“I’m opening it.”

Damien nodded.

She lifted the cover.

The first page contained seven names.

The first six were crossed out.

The seventh remained.

Edward Vale.

Seraphina’s breath caught.

Below his name was a sentence.

The final vow can only be fulfilled after Edward’s death.

She turned the page.

There was another sentence.

The heir must choose between blood and truth.

Elena stepped closer.

“What does that mean?”

Seraphina didn’t answer.

She turned another page.

A photograph slipped out.

It showed Edward standing beside six members of the Covenant.

But one face had been cut from the photograph.

Seraphina picked it up.

On the back was a handwritten note.

The seventh member was never Edward.

Her blood ran cold.

“Then who was it?”

Damien stared at the photograph.

He suddenly looked sick.

Seraphina noticed.

“Damien?”

He didn’t respond.

“Damien.”

Slowly, he looked at her.

“I know who it was.”

“Who?”

He swallowed.

Then said the words that changed everything.

“It was my father.”

The words seemed to settle over the room like dust.

Seraphina stared at Damien.

His face had gone completely still.

“What was his name?”

“Alexander Ashcroft.”

Elena stepped backward.

“No.”

Damien looked at her.

“You knew him?”

“I knew of him.”

Her eyes moved to the photograph.

“Your father was supposed to have died before I was born.”

“He did.”

Seraphina frowned.

“Then how could he have been part of the Covenant?”

Damien walked toward the table.

“Because the Covenant wasn’t what my father told everyone it was.”

He picked up the photograph.

“My father wasn’t just a member. He helped build it.”

Seraphina felt a chill.

“And Edward?”

“Edward discovered what Alexander was doing.”

“Then why was Edward working with him?”

“He wasn’t.”

Damien turned the photograph over.

“That’s what makes this complicated.”

On the back of the photograph were several handwritten dates.

Damien studied them.

“These are meetings.”

Seraphina leaned closer.

“From when?”

“Twenty-four years ago.”

Elena’s expression changed.

“That was before we were born.”

“Yes.”

Damien pointed to one of the dates.

“This was the night before you and Elena were born.”

Seraphina stared at the writing.

Something about the date felt familiar.

She couldn’t explain why.

Then the room seemed to shift.

A sound entered her mind.

A baby crying.

A woman shouting.

A door slamming.

She closed her eyes.

“Seraphina?”

Damien’s voice sounded distant.

She saw a hallway.

Not the hallway in the abandoned house.

Another one.

Brighter.

Newer.

She was standing at the end of it.

But she wasn’t eight.

She was a baby.

She couldn’t see her own face, but she could hear voices.

Her father’s voice.

Her mother’s.

And another man.

Alexander.

“You can’t keep both children.”

Her mother’s voice trembled.

“They’re mine.”

“They belong to the Covenant now.”

Edward shouted.

“You promised me.”

The memory suddenly fractured.

Seraphina gasped and opened her eyes.

Damien was holding her shoulders.

“What did you see?”

She looked at him.

“My father.”

“What about him?”

“He was arguing with your father.”

Damien’s face tightened.

“About what?”

“The twins.”

Elena moved closer.

“What did they say?”

Seraphina swallowed.

“Your father wanted us.”

Silence.

Damien closed his eyes.

For a moment, he looked as though he were fighting something inside himself.

“My father wasn’t supposed to know about you.”

“But he did.”

“Yes.”

“How?”

Damien looked at the photograph.

“Because Edward told him.”

Seraphina stared.

“Why would my father tell the man he was hiding us from?”

“He didn’t know he was hiding you from him.”

She frowned.

“What does that mean?”

Damien hesitated.

“Alexander had convinced Edward that the Covenant wanted Elena.”

Seraphina’s eyes widened.

“But they wanted both of us.”

“Yes.”

“Then why did they only take one?”

Damien didn’t answer.

Elena did.

“They didn’t.”

Everyone turned toward her.

Elena’s face had gone pale.

“They tried to take both.”

Seraphina stared.

“What happened?”

Elena looked at her sister.

“Mother stopped them.”

“How?”

“She made a deal.”

“With whom?”

“The Covenant.”

Seraphina felt sick.

“What kind of deal?”

Elena’s eyes filled with tears.

“She agreed to give them one child.”

Seraphina looked at her.

“And keep the other.”

The words came out slowly.

“Which one?”

Elena didn’t answer.

Seraphina’s heart began pounding.

“Which one?”

Elena looked down.

“You.”

Seraphina froze.

“Me?”

“Mother chose you.”

The room seemed to tilt.

“Why?”

“She believed you were the one they wanted most.”

“Why?”

Elena shook her head.

“I don’t know.”

Seraphina looked toward Damien.

“Do you?”

He remained silent.

“Damien.”

He finally spoke.

“Your mother believed you carried something she called the Memory Key.”

Seraphina stared.

“What is that?”

“We don’t know.”

“Then why does everyone keep talking about it?”

“Because people have killed for it.”

She looked around the chamber.

The thousands of documents.

The photographs.

The names.

All those years of secrets.

All because of something inside her that she didn’t even understand.

Seraphina approached the table again.

“There has to be an explanation.”

She turned another page of the Seventh Vow.

This page contained a diagram.

Seven circles surrounded a central symbol.

Underneath it was written:

One bloodline. Two heirs. One memory.

Her hands trembled.

Then she noticed a handwritten note beneath the diagram.

The first-born remembers.

She looked at Elena.

“Which of us was born first?”

Elena’s face changed.

“I don’t know.”

Seraphina stared.

“How can you not know?”

“Because Mother never told us.”

Damien stepped closer.

“Edward knew.”

Seraphina looked at him.

“And he’s dead.”

“Yes.”

“So we’re back where we started.”

“No.”

Damien pointed to the page.

“Look at the bottom.”

Seraphina leaned over.

There was another line.

The answer lies beneath the seventh chair.

They looked at the seven chairs surrounding the table.

Six were empty.

One held the book.

Seraphina slowly walked around the table.

She stopped behind the seventh chair.

Nothing.

She crouched.

Her fingers brushed against the stone floor.

Then she felt something.

A small indentation.

She pressed it.

Click.

The chair moved backward.

A hidden compartment opened beneath it.

Inside was a metal box.

Damien knelt beside her.

“Don’t touch it.”

Seraphina ignored him.

She lifted the box.

It was heavier than expected.

There was no keyhole.

Instead, there were two small circular spaces.

Elena immediately understood.

“The pendants.”

Seraphina looked at Damien.

He nodded.

They each removed their pendants.

Seraphina placed hers into one slot.

Elena placed hers into the other.

The box clicked.

A thin line appeared across its surface.

Then it opened.

Inside was a letter.

And beneath the letter…

A hospital bracelet.

Seraphina picked it up.

Her name was written across it.

BABY GIRL VALE.

She stared.

Then Elena reached into the box and picked up the second bracelet.

Her expression collapsed.

BABY GIRL VALE – TWIN B.

They looked at each other.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then Seraphina noticed something else.

A date.

The bracelets had different birth times.

Her eyes widened.

“Elena.”

Her sister looked down.

Seraphina pointed.

“I was born at 11:42 p.m.”

Elena stared at her bracelet.

“Mine says 11:47 p.m.”

Five minutes.

Seraphina’s heart raced.

“You’re older.”

Elena shook her head.

“No.”

She turned the bracelet over.

There was another inscription.

DELIVERY TIME ADJUSTED — ORIGINAL RECORD SEALED.

Seraphina looked at Damien.

“Why would someone change our birth records?”

His answer was quiet.

“Because the first-born was supposed to inherit the Memory Key.”

Seraphina’s heart sank.

“So they changed the records to hide which one of us was first.”

“Exactly.”

Elena slowly opened the letter.

It was written by Isabelle.

Her hands shook as she read the first line.

Then she stopped.

“What?”

Seraphina took the letter from her.

The handwriting was unmistakable.

Her mother’s.

My daughters,

Seraphina’s eyes filled with tears.

She continued.

If you have found this, then the Seventh Vow has failed.

She looked at Damien.

“What does that mean?”

He didn’t answer.

Seraphina read on.

I have spent twenty-three years believing I could protect you by keeping you apart. I was wrong. The Covenant was never afraid of what one daughter might remember. They were afraid of what you would remember together.

Elena moved closer.

Seraphina continued reading.

There is something neither of you knows.

The next sentence had been underlined three times.

You were not born with the Memory Key.

Seraphina’s breathing stopped.

She turned the page.

There was only one final sentence.

Your father gave it to you.

A sound came from somewhere above them.

Footsteps.

Slow.

Measured.

Someone was descending the staircase.

Damien immediately reached for his weapon.

“Someone followed us.”

The footsteps stopped.

Then a voice echoed through the chamber.

“Not someone.”

Damien froze.

Seraphina knew the voice.

She had heard it at the cemetery.

On the phone.

In the abandoned house.

Victor Hale.

But when he appeared at the bottom of the staircase, he wasn’t alone.

A man stood beside him.

Older.

Silver-haired.

Cold gray eyes.

Damien’s face drained of color.

“No…”

Seraphina looked at the stranger.

Then at Damien.

The man smiled.

“Hello, son.”

Damien couldn’t move.

Alexander Ashcroft was standing before them.

The man everyone believed had been dead for twenty years.

And in his hand…

was the missing manuscript from Edward Vale’s study.