"𝑪𝑶𝑹𝑽𝑼𝑺: 𝑼𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹 𝑯𝑰𝑺 𝑫𝑨𝑹𝑲 𝑾𝑰𝑵𝑮"

“𝟕: 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑨𝑳𝑷𝑯𝑨’𝑺 𝑫𝑰𝑪𝑬”

As the heavy, smoky air of the casino filled my lungs, I felt both incredibly small and more powerful than ever standing beside Corvus’s massive frame. The dark figures around the table watched Corvus’s every move, holding their breath. My father’s wretched state at the end of the table stoked the fire of my rage like a glowing coal.

Corvus took the bone-colored dice brought on a silver tray into his palm. The clatter of them rubbing against each other echoed through the silent room like the ticking of a time bomb. He extended the dice toward me, never taking his eyes off me for a second.

"Don't leave your fate in someone else's hands, Elara,"

he said, his voice so low and searing that only I could hear it.

"Throw the dice and bury all these debts, your entire past, beneath those small cubes. But remember... when the dice fall, you will be the winner—not just of yourself, but of this game."

As my fingers touched the dice, the scorching heat of Corvus's hand transferred to my skin. I squeezed the dice in my palm. Every eye in the room was on me; my father’s terror-stricken gaze, the greedy stares of the rivals... But I only looked into Corvus’s ocean-deep blue eyes. There was no fear in those eyes; only an unshakable faith.

"If I win,"

I whispered, from a distance only he could hear.

"You won't touch my father. I will be the one to deliver his punishment."

That famous, dark, and captivating smile appeared on Corvus’s lips.

"Win, Elara. When you win, everything at this table—even I—will be at your command."

I held my breath. I gathered all the weight of the fire in Lyon, my father’s betrayal, and Corvus’s obsession into those two small dice in my palm. And I released them onto the green felt table.

Time stopped as the dice tumbled. I felt Corvus place his hand on my knee under the table; with the wave of confidence that came in that moment, I watched the dice come to a halt.

As the dice rolled over the green felt, my father’s wheezing breath and the rivals' greedy whispers hummed in my ears. The pressure of Corvus’s hand on my knee increased; that heat set the blood that was about to freeze in my veins back into motion. The dice slowed, clattered against each other, and finally stopped.

At that moment, the noisy silence of the casino was replaced by ice-cold astonishment. Corvus, certain of his victory, leaned forward slightly and scanned his staggering blue eyes over the rivals.

"Game over, gentlemen,"

he whispered, his voice sealing the soul of everyone in the room.

"And the winner of this night, as always, is none other than my shadow."

I turned my eyes toward my father; what I saw then was not just a father’s defeat, but the first moment my captivity turned into freedom.

The numbers on those bone-colored dice were the end of more than just my father’s life—they were the end of the heavy chains of bondage I had carried on my back since I was eight years old. While the heavy air of the casino—smelling of smoke, tobacco, and sweat—burned my lungs, the silence wrapped around all our throats like an executioner’s rope.

Corvus slowly withdrew his hand from my knee; the warmth where he had touched was instantly replaced by an ice-cold void. As he leaned back in his chair, I felt the creak of the wood on the marble floor in my very bones. He rolled his white shirtsleeves up a bit further, as if wanting to savor his victory in a wider space. When his ocean-deep blue eyes locked onto the miserable man at the end of the table, I felt the oxygen in the room vanish.

"The game is over, Arthur,"

Corvus said. His voice was so low and resonant that even the crystal glasses on the table groaned with the vibration.

"Your daughter saved you. But you know the price... The dirty air you breathe, the dark streets you walk, even that tattered jacket you're wearing now belongs to me. Especially Elara... She is now a part of my world."

I stood up slowly. My silk dress glided between my legs like a serpent, spilling onto the marble. With every step I took toward my father, I felt the heat of that fire in Lyon once again beneath the soles of my feet. The man I once thought was my sanctuary now sat before me, shriveled like an insect with his thinning hair, eyelids twitching with fear, and a sweaty forehead. I wanted to love him, but only cold, grey ashes remained in my heart.

"You sold me,"

I said. The layer of ice in my voice was sharper than even Corvus’s darkness.

"You played your own blood on this table like a piece of paper for your gambling debts. While my lungs were burning in those flames in Lyon, you were here throwing new dice and ruining new lives, weren't you? Was your famous fatherly love smaller than the numbers on a die?"

My father’s lips trembled. He averted his gaze from me and took refuge in Corvus’s grand, massive shadow, as if pleading for mercy from his executioner.

" Elara, my child... I had no other choice, those men were going to cut off my fingers... I was just trying to survive..."

"You should have died!"

I screamed. My voice exploded in every corner of the empty room.

"You should have died and been buried with your honor! But you paid for every second you chose to live with pieces stolen from my life. Now, look at my face! Do you see the marks of that fire? The darkness you see in Corvus’s eyes is the fruit of the seeds you sowed."

Corvus suddenly appeared behind me. His smoky, tobacco-laced, dangerous scent surrounded me like armor. When he placed his hand on my waist, the possessive heat of his fingers pierced through the thin fabric of my dress. This touch was the official proclamation of the toxic sanctuary Corvus offered me.

Corvus leaned in and sealed my soul with his whisper:

"Deliver his punishment, Elara. Will you erase him from this world, or will you set him free to drown in his own darkness? The choice is yours; because today, you are the one holding the whip under that famous stubborn head of yours. With one sign from you, I can erase this man’s existence from the earth."

I saw the pure horror in my father’s eyes, those helpless, pleading looks. Corvus was just watching, as if a creator were waiting with great appetite for his own creation to commit its first great sin, its first murder... I slowly reached for the silver ashtray on the table. I scattered the black ash inside in front of my father, onto the green felt that bore witness to my victory.

"I won't kill you,"

I said, the emotionlessness in my voice shivering even me.

"Because death would be a reward for you. I condemn you to live like a shadow, losing everything you own. Under Corvus’s locks, you will rot a little more every day in that silence. You will never see my face again; you will never hear my voice again. For you, life ended in this room."

I turned to Corvus. The admiring, almost proud glint in his blue eyes stoked something deep inside me.

"Take him and lock him away in that place where even the sunlight is afraid to seep,"

I said.

"Erase his existence from my world."