The morning sea breeze carried a damp chill as it swept across the shore.
Thalia stood beside the rocks and looked at the familiar coastline in front of her.
It took her a while to fully accept that she was truly back in the mortal world.
The thick fog that had covered the sea the previous night was gone.
A pale golden light had begun to spread across the horizon, and the waves rolled steadily toward the shore beneath the morning sky.
Every now and then, she could hear the distant cries of seabirds.
Compared with the almost oppressive silence of the Obsidian Palace, these ordinary sights and sounds felt strangely comforting.
Thalia looked down and checked herself.
Her shoes were still on, and the black gown she had worn in the Underworld was gone.
She was dressed in the same clothes she had been wearing the night before, and everything she had carried with her was still there, as though the black dress had never existed at all.
The only thing that remained was the obsidian ring on the fourth finger of her left hand.
She raised her hand and examined it in the morning light.
The dark surface showed nothing unusual.
At first glance, it looked like nothing more than an old, finely crafted ring.
But everything that had happened the previous night made it impossible for her to see it that way.
Thalia tried twisting it around her finger, but just as before, it refused to come off.
After several attempts, she finally gave up.
“So it really did come back with me…”
She muttered the words under her breath before taking out her phone.
The moment the screen lit up, she stopped.
Twenty-seven missed calls.
Twenty-three were from Ivan, while the rest had come from home and the antiquities gallery.
Thalia stared at the long list for several seconds and could already imagine the expression on her brother’s face.
She was about to call him back when the phone suddenly vibrated in her hand.
As expected, Ivan’s name appeared on the screen.
After a brief hesitation, Thalia answered.
“Ivan.”
There was silence on the other end for two seconds before his voice came through.
“Where are you?”
His tone was calm, but that only made it worse.
Thalia knew her brother well enough to recognize when he was truly angry.
She glanced around and gave him her location.
Ivan didn’t ask any more questions.
“Stay where you are.
I’m coming to get you.”
“I can actually make my own way—”
“Thalia.”
She immediately swallowed the rest of the sentence.
“All right.
I’ll stay here.”
The call ended soon afterward.
Thalia looked at the darkened screen and sighed.
Going home was clearly not going to be easy.
She waited by the coast for less than twenty minutes before a familiar dark gray car appeared in the distance and pulled to a stop beside the road.
The driver’s door opened almost immediately, and Ivan got out.
It was obvious that he hadn’t slept all night.
His dark brown hair, normally kept neat, was slightly disheveled, and the sleeves of his shirt had been carelessly rolled up to his elbows.
There were clear signs of exhaustion beneath his eyes.
Thalia had spent the entire wait thinking about how she was going to explain herself, but the moment she saw him like this, the words she had prepared disappeared.
Ivan walked straight toward her.
Instead of scolding her, he first looked her over carefully from head to toe.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Do you feel unwell anywhere?”
Thalia shook her head.
“No.
I’m really fine.”
She even raised her arms slightly to show him that there was nothing wrong with her.
Ivan checked her once more.
Only after confirming that her complexion looked normal and that there were no visible injuries did some of the tension leave his face.
His relief, however, didn’t mean the questions were over.
“Why couldn’t I reach your phone?”
“Well…”
“And why didn’t you come home last night?”
Thalia opened her mouth, then stopped.
She had no idea where to begin.
She could hardly start by telling him that dead souls had dragged her into the sea, that she had woken up in the King of the Underworld’s bedchamber, and that she had then discovered she had apparently been bound to him by a marriage covenant nineteen years ago.
No matter which part she started with, none of it sounded like something a normal person should have experienced in a single night.
Ivan watched her struggle for an answer, and his brows drew together again.
“Thalia.”
“I know.”
Feeling slightly guilty, she rubbed the tip of her nose.
“Let’s go back first.
This isn’t really something I can explain standing by the road.
Once we’re back at the gallery, I’ll tell you everything.”
Ivan studied her for a moment before deciding not to question her any further on the coast.
Instead, he turned and opened the passenger door for her.
“Get in.”
For once, Thalia didn’t argue and quietly climbed into the car.
Ivan walked around to the driver’s side.
Once he was inside, he picked up a bottle of water and handed it to her.
“Drink.”
Thalia took it and drank several mouthfuls before realizing just how thirsty she was.
Seeing that she seemed all right, Ivan finally started the car.
Neither of them mentioned the previous night again on the drive back.
Thalia leaned against the window and watched the streets gradually come to life.
Familiar shops passed by, cafés were beginning to open for the morning, and people hurried along the sidewalks on their way to work.
Normally, she wouldn’t have paid much attention to any of it.
Today, every ordinary detail felt reassuring.
Yet whenever she lowered her eyes, the obsidian ring remained on her finger, quietly reminding her that the previous night had not been a dream.
About half an hour later, the car entered the old district and eventually stopped in front of an old gray-and-white building.
The Leandros family had run their antiquities gallery here for many years.
The building itself was more than a century old.
The ground floor was open to the public and mainly displayed authenticated antiques and works of art, while the second floor was used for cataloguing and restoration.
The basement held objects that had not yet been fully identified, along with pieces that were unsuitable for public display.
Thalia had practically grown up here and knew the building better than anywhere else.
When she entered the gallery, the morning staff were already arranging the display cases.
Several of them visibly relaxed when they saw her.
“Miss Thalia, you’re finally back.”
“Mr.
Ivan was looking for you all night.”
Thalia immediately felt even more guilty.
“I’m sorry.
I didn’t mean to worry everyone.”
Ivan didn’t let her remain downstairs explaining herself.
He simply told her to come upstairs and led her to the office on the second floor.
The moment the door closed behind them, he turned to her.
“Now you can tell me.”
Thalia sat down on the sofa and thought for a moment before speaking.
“First, promise me that no matter what I tell you, you won’t think I’ve lost my mind.”
Ivan leaned against the edge of the desk.
“You’ve been hearing the voices of dead people through old artifacts since you were a child.
When have I ever thought you were crazy?”
Thalia paused.
He had a point.
Things that would have been impossible for most people to accept had never seemed quite as impossible in their family.
Taking a breath, she finally began with what had happened the previous night.
“Last night, when I touched that artifact by the sea, I accidentally cut my finger and got blood on it.
After that, a black gate appeared over the water.
Before I could figure out what was happening, something in the sea dragged me under.”
Ivan’s expression gradually became more serious.
Thalia didn’t exaggerate anything.
She simply told him what had happened in the order she remembered it, from being pulled beneath the water to losing consciousness and waking somewhere completely unfamiliar.
When she finally mentioned the Underworld, Ivan interrupted her.
“You’re certain that’s where you were?”
“I’m certain.”
Thalia raised her left hand and showed him the ring on her fourth finger.
“And there’s this.”
Ivan’s gaze settled on the obsidian ring, and his expression changed immediately.
Thalia noticed.
“You recognize it?”
Instead of answering, Ivan stepped closer, took her hand, and examined the ring carefully.
The longer he looked at it, the more serious his expression became.
Thalia had only asked the question tentatively, but his reaction immediately made her suspicious.
“You really have seen it before?”
Ivan slowly released her hand.
“Where did this ring come from?”
“It was part of the artifact from last night.”
Thalia paused before adding, “Acheron said it was the token of a covenant made nineteen years ago.”
At the name Acheron, Ivan’s movements stopped for a moment.
This time, Thalia saw it clearly.
She immediately sat straighter.
“You know Acheron too?”
Silence settled over the office.
Ivan didn’t answer.
Instead, he walked to his desk, opened the lowest locked drawer, and took out an old key.
“Come with me.”
Thalia stood.
“Where are we going?”
“The basement.”
Ivan closed his hand around the key, his expression now completely serious.
“There’s something you need to see.”
They left the office and made their way toward the back of the gallery.
Ivan unlocked the door leading to the basement and started down the stone steps, with Thalia following close behind.
She had been down there many times before, so there was nothing unfamiliar about the place itself.
What surprised her was that Ivan didn’t stop in the area where they normally stored unidentified artifacts.
Instead, he continued deeper into the basement.
When another door appeared ahead of them, Thalia slowed.
She had spent most of her life in this building, yet she had never known there was a room here.
“When did this door get here?”
“It wasn’t added later.”
Ivan slid the old key into the lock.
“It’s always been here.
It’s just always been locked.”
A quiet click came from the lock, and the heavy wooden door slowly opened.
The room beyond wasn’t large.
There wasn’t much inside either, only several old wooden crates covered in dust and an antique cabinet standing against the wall.
Ivan walked directly to the cabinet and took out a thick leather-bound volume from the back.
Its cover had faded with age, but the symbol in the center was still clearly visible.
A pomegranate flower surrounded by black vines.
Thalia’s eyes stopped on it.
She had seen that symbol only the night before.
Ivan placed the book on the table and slowly opened it.
The yellowed pages were filled with ancient writing and hand-drawn illustrations.
He turned through several pages before finally stopping.
Thalia leaned closer.
In the center of the page was a drawing of a ring.
The black obsidian face, the shape of the band, and even the smallest details were almost identical to the ring she was wearing.
Beneath the illustration was a single line written in an old script.
Thalia bent closer and studied it until she was able to make out its meaning.
For the bride acknowledged by the Obsidian Throne.
Her eyes immediately dropped to her left hand.
Ivan was silent for a moment before speaking quietly.
“Father left this book behind.”
Thalia looked up sharply.
“Dad?”
“Yes.”
Ivan’s gaze returned to the ring on her finger, his expression more serious than before.
“So whatever happened to you last night, Father may have already known something about it.”
Thalia looked back down at the old book.
She had thought that once she returned to the mortal world, things would slowly begin to make sense again.
Now it seemed that the questions she needed to answer had only just begun.
The covenant made nineteen years ago, the past her mother had never spoken about, the old book her father had left behind, and the obsidian ring she couldn’t remove from her finger—all of it pointed to something that had begun long before the previous night.