Nobody moved.
The hidden passage stood open before them like the house itself had been waiting for this moment.
Cold air drifted out slowly.
And the darkness inside felt… alive somehow.
Ophelia swallowed hard.
Okay.
Maybe opening creepy secret tunnels was actually a bad idea.
Cassian stared into the passage carefully.
“Well,” he muttered.
“That’s horrifying.”
Finally.
Someone speaking normally.
Alekxander’s gaze shifted toward Ophelia immediately.
“What did you hear?”
Right.
That.
Ophelia rubbed her arms slightly.
The voice still echoed inside her head.
“You finally returned.”
Returned.
Not arrived.
Not found us.
Returned.
Like someone had been expecting her.
And honestly?
She hated that deeply.
“Nothing comforting,” she answered quietly.
Cassian grabbed one of the lanterns from a nearby servant.
“We should move quickly.”
Ophelia looked at the dark staircase leading downward.
“Or…” she said carefully, “we could make better life choices and leave.”
Cassian almost smiled.
Alekxander didn’t.
“Stay close to me,” he said quietly instead.
And somehow those five words did something weird to her chest again.
Very annoying.
Ophelia followed them carefully into the passage.
The hidden door closed behind them with a low sound.
Immediately, darkness swallowed everything except the lantern light.
The air smelled old.
Dusty.
Like this place hadn’t been touched in years.
Stone steps stretched downward beneath their feet while silence filled the narrow passage.
Too much silence.
Even the voice whispers had stopped now.
That felt worse somehow.
Ophelia walked beside Alekxander quietly while Cassian led the way ahead.
“This feels like the start of a tragedy,” she muttered.
“It usually is,” Alekxander replied calmly.
She stared at him.
“How are you a real person?”
He ignored that.
Rude.
The staircase finally ended after a while.
A large underground room appeared ahead of them.
Ophelia stopped immediately.
It looked exactly like the vision.
Bookshelves lined the walls.
Papers covered large wooden tables.
Strange symbols had been carved into the stone floor.
And right in the center of the room.
A black sun symbol. Find the original chapter at g.com.
Ophelia felt sick instantly.
Cassian moved carefully around the room while guards searched nearby.
“Nothing’s been touched recently,” he murmured.
Alekxander’s expression remained tense.
“Search everything.”
The guards immediately spread out.
Meanwhile Ophelia stood frozen near the entrance.
Because the whispers had returned again.
Soft.
Painfully soft.
“She came back…”
“She remembers…”
“Too late…”
Pain pulsed sharply behind her eyes again.
Not now.
Please not now.
Ophelia grabbed the nearby shelf slightly to steady herself.
Alekxander noticed immediately.
“Ophelia.”
“I’m fine.”
Lie.
Very obvious lie.
The second her fingers touched the shelf…
The vision hit violently.
The original Ophelia stood inside this same room breathing unevenly.
Terrified.
Papers scattered around her feet.
“You lied to me,” she whispered shakily.
Someone stood in front of her.
A man.
Tall.
Face hidden in shadows.
“I protected you for as long as I could.”
That voice.
Ophelia’s chest tightened painfully.
It sounded familiar again.
The original Ophelia stepped backward slowly.
“No… no, you knew what they were doing.”
Silence.
Then the man spoke quietly:
“You should’ve stayed ignorant.”
The vision suddenly shifted.
Blood splattered across the floor.
The original Ophelia gasped sharply.
Then darkness swallowed everything.
Ophelia stumbled back into reality with a sharp inhale.
Alekxander caught her immediately before she fell.
“Ophelia.”
Her breathing turned uneven again.
“The room…” she whispered shakily.
“There was someone here with her.”
Cassian immediately looked up.
“Who?”
“I couldn’t see his face.”
Alekxander’s hands tightened slightly around her arms.
“What did he say?”
Ophelia slowly looked up at him.
And suddenly…
That voice from the vision connected with something in her head.
Not fully.
Just enough to terrify her.
Very recently.
Her chest tightened painfully.
“I know that voice.”
Silence filled the room immediately.
Cassian straightened slowly.
Alekxander’s expression darkened.
“From where?”
Ophelia tried to think clearly through the pounding in her head.
The voice.
Calm.
Deep.
Controlled.
Then suddenly…
Realization hit her.
Her eyes widened instantly.
“No way.”
Alekxander frowned slightly.
“Ophelia?”
She slowly turned toward him.
Fear creeping into her chest now.
Because if she was right…
Then everything just became worse.
Much worse.
“The man from the vision…” she whispered slowly.
“I think he was at the Ashbourne estate the night I woke up.”
The room went completely still.
Cassian cursed quietly under his breath.
But Alekxander?
Alekxander suddenly looked furious.
Not cold.
Not calm.
Furious.
“Did you see his face?” he asked sharply.
Ophelia shook her head immediately.
“No, but…”
A loud sound interrupted her suddenly.
CLANG.
Everyone turned immediately toward the far side of the room.
One of the guards had knocked something over accidentally.
A metal box lay open on the ground now.
And inside it.
Letters.
Old ones.
Cassian quickly picked one up carefully.
His expression changed instantly while reading it.
“That’s impossible.”
Alekxander stepped toward him.
“What is it?”
Cassian slowly handed him the paper.
Ophelia couldn’t see the entire contents clearly.
But she saw enough.
One name stood out immediately.
Vale.
Her stomach dropped.
Slowly, Ophelia looked toward Alekxander.
His face had gone completely unreadable now.
Which somehow scared her more than anger.
“Alekxander?”
He looked at her quietly.
Too quietly.
Then finally said the one thing she didn’t want to hear:
“My family was involved with the Black Sun Society.”