Chapter 243 TEIGEN LXXIII
He collapsed to his knees, shaking violently. Blood spilled from his mouth.
“Get a physician!” Augustine shouted.
No one moved.
Whispers spread quickly-Poison. Elara dropped beside him, holding him as he struggled.
“Please,” she cried. “Stay with me.”
He tried to speak. His hand lifted weakly toward her face. Then it fell, he went still.
“No—” Her voice broke into a scream. She clung to him, shaking, crying openly now.
Her dress stained red. Her ladies rushed to her. Camilla knelt beside her, sobbing. Phillipa and Winnie tried to pull her back, but she wouldn’t let go.
Then, a laugh. Cold. Sawyer stepped forward and grabbed her arm, pulling her away. “The Grand Duke is dead,” he said. “And now everything he owned belongs to me.”
Elara turned on him, fury cutting through her grief. “You—”
Fowler stepped in, smiling. “This was always going to happen,” he said. “Your father never saw it. Not when I poisoned your mother. Not when I did the same to him.”
Elara froze. “You… killed her?” she whispered.
“Yes,” Fowler said calmly. “And now I’ve finished what I started.”
Her world tilted. Sawyer leaned close. “And your guard? Ryker?” he said quietly. “He’s already dead.”
Something inside her broke. The tears stopped.
Her eyes lifted. They weren’t the same.
Light filled them. Bright and blinding. The air shifted.
The chandeliers above them rattled. The ground trembled. “Elara…” Augustine whispered.
People began to panic. Chairs fell and voices rose. Elara stood in the center of it all, unmoving.
“You killed them,” she said. Her voice sounded different now. Deeper. Stronger. “My mother. My father. My Ryker.”
Sawyer grabbed her again. “Enough,” he snapped. “You belong to me.”
The floor cracked beneath them.
Flames rose from the ground, curling around her feet. “I belong to no one,” she said.
Sawyer tightened his grip. “I will break you if I have to.”
Before he could say more, something hit him.
A force slammed into him and threw him across the room. He crashed into a pillar, coughing.
Fowler tried to speak, but something struck him too, sending him hard against the wall.
People screamed. “Elara, stop!” Augustine cried. “You’ll destroy everything!”
For a moment, Elara looked at her. The light in her eyes flickered. “Augustine…” she whispered.
Then Sawyer grabbed her again.
The power surged. The floor split wider. Heat filled the room. Her voice turned cold. “No.”
She screamed.
The force burst out from her, shattering the table, burning the contract to ash. Sawyer was thrown back again.
Fowler struggled to stand, pointing at her. “She’s a monster!” he shouted. “Kill her!”
No one moved, they were too afraid. Elara turned toward him slowly. “You killed my mother,” she said. “And you thought you’d control me too.”
Fowler backed away, shaking. “You don’t understand—”
“I understand enough.”
Flames rose higher, bending toward her like they answered to her.
Camilla screamed when fire brushed her dress, but it didn’t burn. It faded away harmlessly.
“Elara, please,” Augustine begged, falling to her knees. “Your mother had this power too. She couldn’t control it.”
That made Elara pause.
Her mother. The anger didn’t fade. It changed.
She raised her hands. The flames gathered around her, moving with her.
Sawyer stepped forward again, even now. “Yes,” he said quietly. “Show them what you are.”
Elara looked at him with disgust. “You think you own me because of a piece of paper?”
He smiled, blood on his lips. “I will own everything.”
The walls shook harder.
Fowler shouted again, desperate now. “Stop her!”
But no one dared come close.
The guards stayed back. The nobles ran. Augustine shielded the others, praying.
And at the center of it all stood Elara.
No longer the girl they had tried to control.
Something stronger and something dangerous.
The grand hall burned.
Flames climbed the curtains and spread across the beams above. The carved symbols of the Empire blackened and broke apart, turning to ash that drifted through the air.
The floor cracked beneath the heat, glowing lines spreading like something alive under the marble.
At the center stood Elara.
Her veil was gone. The hem of her gown was scorched. Her hair moved wildly around her face, lit by the fire. Her eyes burned bright, too bright to look at for long.
No one dared go near her.
“Elara!” Augustine called, her voice breaking as she pushed through the chaos. Smoke caught in her throat, but she kept moving. “Please, child—stop!”
Elara barely heard her. The power inside her drowned everything else out. It had been there for years, buried, controlled, ignored.
Now it was free. Her gaze locked onto Fowler as he crawled across the floor, trying to escape.
“You will never hurt anyone again,” she said.
Something invisible struck him, slamming him back. His body hit hard, and he cried out before going still.
Sawyer dragged himself up, blood on his face, but he was smiling. “Yes… this is it,” he said, almost laughing. “This is why I chose you.”
He stepped closer, even as the fire grew around him. “You can’t escape me, Elara. Not even like this.”
Her chest rose and fell quickly. “You will never own me.”
The room shook harder. Pillars cracked, windows shattered. Glass fell in sharp pieces across the floor. The walls groaned as if they were about to give way.
People ran. Screaming. Pushing past each other to reach the doors.
Augustine grabbed Camilla. “Go!” she shouted. “All of you!”
Phillipa and Winnie pulled Camilla with them. Augustine pushed them forward, then turned back one last time. “Elara!”
Elara looked at her, her eyes still burning.
“Go!” she shouted. “Leave!”
The force of her voice pushed people toward the doors. The large doors burst open, breaking apart.
Augustine stood frozen for a second, tears running down her face. “Elara…” she whispered.
“Go!” Elara cried again, her voice breaking.
This time, Augustine listened. She turned and ran.
Soon, the hall was empty.
Only fire and falling stone remained.
Sawyer stepped forward again, stubborn even now. “You think this frees you?” he said. “No. It only makes you mine in a different way.”
Elara shook her head. “No.”