The Council of Elites gathered beneath the sacred dome of the High Citadel. Shadows danced across the marble floor, cast by the flickering flames of truthfire that never died. The elders stood in grim silence, each face marked with ancient magic and cold determination.
Hovering in the air above them were nine black arrows—not ten.
Each one forged to kill a devil's blood.
"The devil Lucifer has seven children," Elder Vaelor said, voice like iron. "All bred in secret with the black witch Corrine. They are powerful. Corrupted. A threat to every realm of the Elites."
"No longer children," added Elder Taryn. "Aslan is already a commander of storms. The twins Cassius and Cassandra are ghosts in the night. The girl Lynna tricks the mind. Marius and Merika bend shadows. And Sandro—he bends the will of beasts."
"Their spread must be stopped," said Queen Vantessa. "Before the bloodline expands. Before another Carello line emerges."
"Then we agree," Vaelor said. "We forge a trap. A valley cursed by silence. We will weaken their magic. The moment they gather—we strike. One arrow for each child. One for the Father and Corrine will be the bait to Lucifer"
Seven arrows. Seven known heirs.
Not one word was spoken of Lucille.
Because to the Council… she didn't exist.
The night was still over the Carello estate. Only the distant howling of wind through the forest stirred the silence—until a raven flew to Corrine's window, a letter bound to its leg, sealed with golden wax bearing the insignia of Sabrah.
Corrine stood in her study, draped in a flowing midnight robe. With a flick of her fingers, the letter hovered before her. She broke the seal.
Her eyes scanned the delicate handwriting—Brienne's. Her twin. Her traitor. Her mirror and her wound.
---
To my sister Corrine,
I write not to reopen old wounds, but to bandage them with truth. We have become legends soaked in darkness—your name feared, mine whispered in guilt.
I know I took from you. Calix, your future, your place as the Carello matriarch. I bear that weight. But I also built something—an estate in Sabrah, for the lost ones who still carry the Carello blood.
Please come.
Not with vengeance.
Come as my sister, if only once more.
Let us decide what will become of our bloodline.
Let the past speak before it buries the future.
– Brienne
---
Corrine's eyes were unreadable as the candlelight flickered across her face. She set the letter down and whispered, "She wants to speak of bloodlines, after everything?"
A voice slithered from the corner like velvet and smoke.
"I don't trust her," Lucifer said, stepping from the shadows, his eyes glowing crimson beneath the darkness of his hood. "And you should not either."
"I don't," Corrine replied coolly, turning to face him. "But if I don't go… this feud will never end. Our children will inherit the ruins of our hatred."
Lucifer moved close, wrapping his arms around her. "Then let me come with you."
She pulled away gently. "No. If you come, she'll never speak openly. She'll see a devil and a threat, not a sister."
Lucifer's jaw clenched, his hand twitching at his side. "She could be plotting. This could be a trap."
Corrine smiled faintly. "Let her try. I am not the girl she once knew. I do not go as Corrine, the spurned daughter. I go as the Dark Matriarch of the Carello… and as your queen."
Lucifer's eyes softened only slightly. "You'll go alone?"
Corrine nodded. "The children stay here. Sabrah is not ready for their power. And I will not put them at risk until I know Brienne's true intent."
Lucifer stepped forward, brushing a kiss across her forehead. "Very well… but I will place my shadows around you. If you do not return, Sabrah will burn."
Corrine chuckled darkly. "I'll return, my king. But when I do—perhaps with peace, or with fire in my hands—we'll decide the fate of the Carello name."
She turned, her black cloak sweeping behind her like the wing of a raven. The gates of the estate opened on their own.
And into the cold wind of night, Corrine disappeared—alone—toward the kingdom that once betrayed her.