Chapter 136 Chapter 136
Chapter 136 Chapter 136
Zyran went still while Damon stared at the box.
“Our father?”
Ariel nodded slowly.
“This belonged to him.”
Zyran stepped forward.
“Open it.”
Ariel hesitated.
“You knew him well?” Zyran asked.
“Yes.”
“Then why haven't you mentioned this place?”
Ariel looked at them.
“I didn't know it existed.”
Damon folded his arms.
“Then how do you know that box belonged to him?”
Ariel swallowed.
“Because I gave it to him.”
Silence.
Hayley looked at her mother.
“You gave Alpha Drake this box?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before you were born while I still worked for him.”
Ares suddenly laughed.
Everyone looked at him.
“What?”
He shook his head.
“Nothing.”
Damon's eyes narrowed.
“Are you hiding something?”
“No.”
“You're a terrible liar.”
Ares looked towards the five markings on the table.
“I've seen that arrangement before.”
Ariel's attention snapped to him.
“Where?”
He didn't answer.
Instead, he walked towards the opposite side of the chamber.
“There was a room in the old Moonshed archives. Celine wouldn't let anyone enter it.”
Damon stiffened.
“Celine knew about this?”
“I don't know.”
“You just said—”
“I said she wouldn't let anyone enter.”
Ariel looked at Ares carefully.
“Why?”
“Hiw would I know that?”
Leo leaned over the table and assessed the box.
“There are words underneath.”
Ariel immediately moved beside him.
Leo wiped away more dust.
A sentence appeared.
Hayley read it aloud.
“When the five stand together, the door will answer.”
The chamber fell quiet.
Damon looked around.
“There is no door.”
Kai pointed towards the wall behind the table.
“Yes, there is.”
A thin line had appeared in the stone.
Ariel stepped back.
The creature rose.
They held each other by the hand and the line across the wall widened.
A low grinding sound filled the chamber.
Then the stone began sliding apart.
Hayley's POV
The door opened completely.
And inside was a room.
I stared at my mother.
“Who is in there?”
Ariel didn't answer.
Damon stepped closer to her.
“Ariel?”
She finally moved.
Slowly, she entered the room and we followed.
The first thing I noticed was the desk.
It was old, but not abandoned. A few books remained neatly stacked on one side, and several sheets of parchment had been placed inside a wooden tray.
There was also a large cabinet against the far wall.
Zyran walked towards it.
“There's dust everywhere except here.”
Damon ran his fingers across the desk.
“Someone has been using this place.”
Ares stayed near the doorway.
That caught my attention.
He looked uncomfortable.
“You've never been here?”
“No.”
“Yet you recognised the room.”
“I recognised the arrangement of the table outside.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Ares looked at me.
“I said I've never been inside.”
I didn't like his answer.
Kai had wandered towards a shelf.
“There's a lot of writing.”
Leo joined him.
“Can you read it?”
“Some.”
“Then read.”
Kai pulled out a thin book.
The cover had no title.
He opened it carefully.
“Most of this is written in an old dialect.”
Ariel turned.
“Give it to me.”
Kai handed it over.
She read the first few lines.
Her eyebrows drew together.
“What does it say?” Damon asked.
Ariel closed the book.
“Records.”
“Of what?”
“Drake.”
The brothers exchanged a look.
Zyran moved closer.
“Our father kept records here?”
“I don't know.”
Damon's patience was clearly disappearing.
“You've said that three times since we entered this place.”
Ariel looked at him.
“Because I don't have the answers you're looking for.”
Damon looked away.
Zyran was quieter.
“Then let's find them.”
He opened the cabinet.
Inside were dozens of files.
Some had names.
Others had dates.
One caught my attention.
I reached for it.
Ariel immediately stopped me.
“Hayley.”
I looked at her hand.
“Why?”
“Because I don't know what's inside.”
“That hasn't stopped us before.”
She released my wrist.
I pulled out the file.
There was one name written across the front.
Stanley.
My stomach tightened.
I opened it.
The first page contained a sketch of my father.
I stared at it.
“Why would Drake have records about Dad?”
Ariel looked over my shoulder.
Her expression changed.
Damon noticed.
“You know something? Why do you all keep doing this? It's like you're all in on a secret and shutting the rest of us out!”
She shook her head.
“No. But this is not what I expected to find.”
I turned the page.
There were notes about Stanley's movements, his marriage, his connection to the seal and his relationship with Ariel.
I stopped.
“Mom.”
She didn't answer.
“Why is your name here?”
Ariel took the file from me.
“Because I was married to him?”
“That's not an answer.”
“It is the answer I can give you right now. Why would you question my name appearing with your dad's?”
I stepped back.
For years, I had accepted that there were things my mother couldn't tell me.
But now we were standing in a room filled with proof that people had been keeping secrets long before I even knew what the Seal Bearers were.
I looked at her.
“You knew more than you told me.”