The night after the event did not bring rest to Elara, even though the mansion had gone quiet and the lights outside the windows had softened into stillness. Her mind stayed active long after she returned, replaying Vivienne’s words not as insults but as patterns she could not ignore. The way Vivienne spoke had not felt random anymore, it felt structured, like she was trying to place Elara inside a larger map she had not been shown yet.
Elara stood by the window in her room for a long time without moving, her reflection faint against the glass as she watched the city lights flicker in the distance. Each light looked disconnected at first, but the longer she stared, the more she began to imagine invisible links between them. That thought stayed with her because it reminded her too much of
