Eliana POV
The voice came again during meditation.
Soft. Smooth. A little colder than Scarlet’s flame. No heat. No fire. Just something… ancient. Low. Like wind slipping through dead trees.
At first, I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me. A leftover thread of spirit magic, or a memory echoing wrong.
But then it spoke again.
“Eliana.”
I flinched.
The world around me faded—the still sanctuary chamber, the incense smoke curling in the air, the gentle hum of the warded circle beneath me. All of it felt suddenly distant. Wrong.
I opened my eyes.
Nothing had changed. No one was there.
But I felt it. Like shadows crawling beneath my skin.
This wasn’t Scarlet.
This wasn’t hers.
This was something else.
“You hear me now. Finally.”
The voice was inside my head—but not like Sca
