Chapter 56: Chapter 56 – The Weight of Being Alone

Chapter 56 – The Weight of Being Alone

Liora’s POV

By the time the fortress grew quiet again, I understood something I hadn’t allowed myself to name before.

None of this had anything to do with jealousy.

Not Isolade. Not Ivy. Not even the way the elders spoke about me like I was something that could be discussed, weighed, and decided on.

It was never personal. It was power.

I sat on the edge of the bed for a long time, my hands resting loosely in my lap, listening to the distant movement outside my door. The tension hadn’t disappeared with nightfall. If anything, it had settled deeper into the walls, into the way people walked, into the way doors opened and closed more carefully than before.

Everything felt measured now and for the first time, I wasn’t just caught in it. I was part of what they were calculating around. That realization didn’t hurt the way I expected it to. It didn’t come with panic or fear. It came with something quieter, something colder.

Understanding.

I wasn’t being targeted because of who I was to Kael. I was being targeted because of what I was.

The thought stayed with me as I stood, slower this time, more aware of my body than before. The weakness hadn’t completely faded, but it had settled into something manageable. Enough to move. Enough to think clearly.

Enough to stop waiting.

I made my way toward the hidden panel without calling for anyone. There was no point. The guards outside the room were no longer just protection. I could feel it in the way they stood, in the way their presence lingered too long near the door.

They were watching not just for threats coming in but for me going out.

The panel opened easily under my hand, the quiet click of it slipping into the silence of the room. I stepped through before I could reconsider it, letting it close behind me.

The hidden space felt the same as before. Still. Separated. Like the rest of the fortress couldn’t reach inside it.

Elera was awake again.

Her eyes found me almost immediately this time, clearer than before, more focused. There was still weakness in the way she held herself, but it wasn’t the same helplessness I had seen earlier.

"You’re pushing yourself," I said as I moved closer, lowering myself carefully beside her. "You should still be resting."

Her lips parted, and this time, a sound came out. It was faint, uneven, like her voice hadn’t fully returned to her yet.

"My la...dy..."

I stilled for a second.

"You don’t have to talk," I said quietly. "Just—"

She shook her head slightly, the movement small but deliberate. Her fingers shifted against the blanket, like she was trying to gather enough strength to hold onto something.

Something important. I watched her more closely then.

"What is it?" I asked.

Her breathing grew a little heavier as she tried again, forcing the words out slowly.

"Isolade..." she whispered.

The name settled between us, heavy in a way that made my chest tighten without warning.

"What about her?" I asked, keeping my voice steady.

Elera swallowed, her gaze fixed on mine like she was making sure I understood every word.

"She... gave the order," she said, each word taking effort. "Not just... to capture me..."

Her hand twitched slightly, like she was remembering something her body hadn’t fully recovered from.

"To... break me," she finished.

Something in my chest went still. I didn’t interrupt her this time.

"She wanted... information," Elera continued, her voice barely holding together. "About you."

My fingers tightened slightly where they rested against the edge of the bed.

"What kind of information?" I asked.

Her eyes shifted, unfocused for a second, like she was trying to piece it together through pain.

"She kept asking..." Elera whispered. "What you are... what you can do... what’s inside you..."

The last part landed differently.

"What’s inside me?" I repeated quietly.

Elera nodded weakly.

"She said..." her voice faltered again, her breath catching. "If you survived... then it means... you’re the one..."

A slow, cold understanding settled into place inside me.

I wasn’t just someone caught in her plans.

I was the result she had been looking for. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

I stayed quiet for a moment, letting that thought settle fully before I spoke again.

"She wasn’t trying to kill me," I said slowly.

Elera’s gaze flickered, like she wanted to respond but didn’t have the strength.

"She was testing me," I finished.

Elera didn’t disagree.

A quiet kind of clarity spread through me then, sharper than anything I had felt before. Too many things started lining up at once, the attack, the poison, the way Ivy had spoken, the way the elders had reacted.

None of it had been random. I exhaled slowly, forcing my thoughts to stay steady.

"What else did she say?" I asked.

Elera hesitated this time, longer than before. Her fingers curled slightly into the fabric beneath them.

"There was... something else," she said weakly.

I leaned in just slightly.

"What?"

Her eyes shifted toward the wall for a brief second, then back to me.

"A room..." she whispered.

"What room?"

"Hidden..." she said, her voice fading in and out. "She said... if it’s real... if you find it..."

Her breathing hitched, the effort catching up to her.

"Chains..." she added, barely audible now. "Someone... waiting..."

The words didn’t finish.

Her body gave out before she could push any further, her head turning slightly to the side as her strength finally ran out. Her breathing didn’t stop, but it deepened into something heavier, like her body had shut down just enough to protect itself.

"Elera," I said softly, but she didn’t respond.

I didn’t try to wake her again. I sat there for a moment instead, my mind already moving faster than my body could.

The chamber beneath the fortress.

The woman who looked exactly like me. The one who had said she was waiting.

My hand moved slowly, pressing against the edge of the bed as I stood, my balance steady enough now that I didn’t need to reach for support.

Everything connected too cleanly to ignore.

Isolade knew. Maybe not everything, but enough to test me, enough to send someone looking for something she couldn’t reach herself.

My chest tightened slightly, but not from fear. From certainty.

"I wasn’t the first one they were looking for..." I said quietly, more to myself than anyone else.

The words felt heavier the second they left my mout because now, I understood the rest of it. I wasn’t the beginning of this.

I was the end of it.

"The last one they needed."