Chapter 117 Elara's Dying
Aurora's POV
I forced myself out of bed, my limbs heavy as lead. Every movement drained me, leaving me trembling. The mirror showed a ghost—grayish skin like rotting meat, sunken eyes ringed in purple, brittle hair breaking at the touch.
"Silk," I rasped, throat raw. "Drain every drop of destiny power from our targets. Pour it all into the ritual prep."
My shadow familiar flickered in the glass. "This will leave you with nothing. You’re already at the brink. If the ritual fails—"
"It won't fail," I interrupted, forcing myself to meet my own dead-eyed gaze in the mirror. "Do it. Take everything. I only need to hold on long enough to complete the ceremony, and once Elara Sterling is dead, once I've claimed her power and her place, everything will be restored. This is just temporary."
I forced myself to move through the motions of getting dressed, pulling on clothes that hung loose on my wasted frame and covering as much of my deteriorating skin as possible before I wrapped a silk scarf around my neck and pulled a wide-brimmed hat down low over my forehead. The oversized sunglasses I'd bought specifically for this purpose covered half my face, and the medical mask I added as a final touch completed the disguise.
The hidden compartment in my closet opened with a soft click when I pressed the concealed latch, revealing the collection of dolls I'd been maintaining for weeks now. My hands shook as I reached for the one that held Matilda's essence, the face staring up at me with painted eyes that seemed to follow my movements, and I shoved it into my leather handbag before snapping the clasp shut.
"Watch the apartment," I ordered "Nolan" standing by the door. "Don't let anyone in, don't touch anything, and if any of the containers show signs of instability, use the emergency containment protocols I showed you."
He nodded, and I left without looking back. The hired car was already waiting at the curb when I emerged from the building. The driver gave me a curious glance when I slid into the back seat, his eyes lingering on my covered face, but he didn't say anything except to confirm the destination before pulling away and merging into the morning traffic.
"Silk," I asked in my mind once we were moving. "Can you lock onto Elara's position? I need to know exactly where she is before we arrive."
She replied, "Direct tracking of her energy signature is impossible due to her divine protections and the Alpha's mark, but I can utilize the cursed anchor points we previously established within the Pack House territory. The black magic residue embedded in those locations can be manipulated to seek out her spiritual wavelength and provide approximate coordinates."
I leaned forward slightly, my hands gripping the leather seat. "You couldn't sense those anchor points before. What's changed?"
"The energy reserves were insufficient to maintain connection across such distance," Silk explained. "Now, with the sacrificial power boost, I can reestablish the link and trigger a coordinated pulse from all anchor points simultaneously. The resulting dark magic surge will attempt to breach her defenses and triangulate her current location based on the strength of her resistance."
"Do it," I said immediately. "I need to know where she is."
The sensation of Silk's power unfurling was like watching a poisonous flower bloom in fast motion, petals of shadow and corruption spreading outward from my position in concentric waves. The cursed anchor points we'd carefully positioned throughout the Pack House grounds suddenly flared to life with malevolent energy, each one releasing a pulse of black magic that sought to overwhelm Elara's protections and force a response that would reveal her location.
"Well?" I demanded when Silk remained silent for several long seconds. "Did it work? Where is she?"
"The direction of strongest resistance corresponds with the Pack House main residence," Silk reported, and there was something odd in its tone that I couldn't quite identify. "Elara appears to be on the premises. However—"
"She kept those anchor points at her home?" I interrupted, surprise cutting through the fog of exhaustion. The stupidity of such a move was almost incomprehensible, and I felt a surge of vicious satisfaction. "Drive directly to the main gate," I told the driver, raising my voice slightly.
The car turned onto the long private road that led up to the Pack House, the massive stone building coming into view as we crested the final hill. My pulse quickened with a mixture of anticipation and dark glee. This was it, the moment I'd been working toward for so long, and nothing was going to stop me from seeing Elara Sterling's face when she realized that all her power hadn't been enough to save her.
We pulled up to the main entrance and I was already reaching for the door handle before the car had completely stopped, my movements jerky and uncoordinated from the combination of physical deterioration and manic energy. I'd barely gotten both feet on the ground when I heard the angry roar from the direction of the house, saw James come storming down the front steps with his face twisted in fury and disgust.
"Aurora Winters!" he shouted, his voice carrying clearly across the distance. "You actually have the nerve to show your face here again?!"
I straightened slowly, forcing my spine to support my weight despite the weakness in my legs, and watched as he closed the distance between us with long, aggressive strides. There was no trace of the warmth or affection he'd once shown me in his expression, nothing but pure loathing in the way his eyes raked over my covered form.
He reached me and immediately grabbed for my sunglasses, yanking them off my face before I could protest. I saw his eyes widen with shock and revulsion when he got his first clear look at my deteriorated features in the bright morning sunlight. "What the hell happened to you?" he demanded, but there was no concern in his voice, only horrified fascination. "You're covering yourself up like you're trying to hide a corpse. Is this some kind of cosmic punishment for all the evil shit you've been doing?"
The words should have stung, but instead I felt only cold, hollow amusement at his naivety. He had no idea what I'd sacrificed, what I'd become in order to achieve the power necessary to bring down his precious Luna.
It was at that moment that Silk's voice whispered through my consciousness. "Elara Sterling's vital signs is stable. Cursed assault status: ineffective. No measurable impact on her life force or defensive barriers."
Ineffective? How could that be possible when I'd poured everything into those cursed anchors? But even as the shock rippled through me, I felt a strange, almost manic optimism rising to replace it. Maybe this just meant that Elara was in her final death throes, maybe her defenses were holding through sheer stubborn will even as her life force drained away.
I pulled my lips back in what might have passed for a smile. "Where is Elara?" I asked James, my voice coming out with an eerie, sing-song quality that made him take an involuntary step backward. "I came here specifically to see her, you know. We have unfinished business to discuss."
James's expression shifted from disgust to wariness, his body language becoming defensive as he positioned himself between me and the house. "What are you playing at, Aurora? Why are you suddenly so interested in Elara?"
I reached up to pull the mask down from my face completely since there was no point in maintaining the pretense anymore, letting him see the full extent of what I'd become. "Don't you know? Elara Sterling is dying, James. Her time is almost up, and I simply had to come pay my respects before she takes her final breath. It would be rude not to say goodbye, don't you think?"
I watched his face cycle through confusion and anger and finally settle on pure, incandescent rage. "You cursed her," he said, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl. "You actually tried to kill the Luna with black magic. Aurora Winters, what the hell is wrong with you?!"
I laughed, the sound harsh and brittle in my damaged throat. He still didn't understand that this wasn't about trying, this was about succeeding. "I'm not cursing anyone," I said, and technically it was true because the cursing had already been done. "I'm just stating facts. Elara Sterling has been touched by dark magic, her life force is being systematically drained, and very soon she'll be too weak to maintain her precious divine protections. This is what happens to people who think they can defy fate and take what doesn't belong to them."
"You're insane," James spat, and he looked like he wanted to physically attack me but was holding himself back through sheer force of will. "The Luna is perfectly fine, and when she finds out what you've done—"
"I'm sure she'll be devastated," I interrupted, and I was about to continue when a voice cut through the air, cold and mocking and utterly, impossibly alive.
"I'm dying? That's news to me."