Chapter 71 Elena Heart- POV
Xavier leaned back, his eyes searching mine through the lenses. "And you look like you have something on your mind that isn't about 'hormones' or 'cousins,' Elena. You warned me last night about a man who died. You warned your parents today about a storm. Tell me... in this cafe where no one is listening... what are you really afraid of?"
I sat there, the heat of the tea seeping into my palms, but my insides were like ice. I had to be careful. If I told him I was from the future, he’d think I was insane or under a high-level delusion spell. But if I told him I was a Seer, it was a language this world understood.
I looked him dead in the eye, letting the mask of the "ordinary girl" fall away. I didn't try to hide the trauma anymore. I let him see the raw, jagged edges of my soul—the look of a woman who had seen the sky bleed.
"I have abilities to foresee things, Xavier—" I caught myself, my heart skipping a beat at the slip of his real name, but I pushed through. "Dark. I have visions. I don't know what you call it, but I can see things that are about to happen. Not as possibilities, but as certainties."
He didn't laugh. He didn't even blink. He leaned in, the fake mustache and spectacles suddenly looking ridiculous against the sheer, royal gravity of his presence.
He was projecting every ounce of his attention on me, reading my micro-expressions with the precision of a man who dealt in life and death.
"What did you see, Elena, that made you cry so hard last night?" he asked, his voice a low, urgent rumble. "Was it a vision of a man dying? Was it the storm you warned your parents about?"
He paused, his blue eyes searching mine, trying to find a lie that wasn't there.
"Should I alert the King about this?" he asked, his voice dropping to a whisper that made the hair on my arms stand up. "Or do you want me to keep it a secret? Tell me. If the kingdom is in danger, I need to know. If you are in danger, I need to know."
The genuineness in his voice was a physical weight. He wasn't just asking as a spy; he was asking as a man who felt the burden of the crown and was starting to realize that this "assassin" might be the only one telling him the truth.
I took a shaky breath and leaned over the table, my voice barely a thread.
"The King is surrounded by vipers, Dark. The people he trusts most—the ones in his inner circle—are already holding the daggers. They don't want his throne; they want to open a door that can never be closed. I saw the capital in ashes. I saw the sky rip open. And I saw you... I saw the guard who stands by the King, falling because he was betrayed by a brother."
I reached out, my fingers trembling as I brushed the back of his hand on the table.
"Don't alert the King yet," I whispered. "He won't believe a Heart daughter. Not yet. But keep your eyes on Leo. My cousin, Grace. Keep your eyes on the Church’s shadow. The 'Rebel' they talk about? It isn't a weapon for the kingdom. It's an invitation for the Titans."
Xavier’s jaw tightened so hard I heard the bone click. He didn't pull his hand away. Instead, he turned his palm up and laced his fingers through mine, a silent, grounding grip.
"Titans," he repeated, the word sounding like a curse. "You speak of myths as if they are marching toward our gates."
"They are," I said, a single tear escaping. "And if we don't move now, this cafe, this tea, your life... it all becomes ash in three days."
I saw the shift in him then. The skepticism didn't vanish, but it was overruled by his instinct. He saw my pain, and he felt the resonance of the truth. He looked at our joined hands, then back at me, his gaze fierce.
"Then we don't have much time," he said, his voice now cold and commanding—the voice of the King I remembered. "Tell me everything. No stories this time. Tell me the names of the traitors, and tell me exactly how they plan to kill me."
The steam from my tea curled between us, a fragile veil in the quiet of the small cafe. I looked over the rim of the cup, my eyes scanning the empty tables and the dusty windows. Even here, three blocks away from the prying eyes of the court, the walls felt like they had ears.
"I’m not sure how to trust you, Dark," I said, my voice barely a whisper.
I had to play this perfectly. To him, I was Elena Heart, the daughter of a disgraced house, a weapon forged by the rebellion, and a spy sent to infiltrate his bedchamber.
Why would a King’s guard trust a girl who had been trained from birth to be his downfall? I needed him to see me not as a threat, but as his only hope, yet the irony of the situation tasted more bitter than the tea.
"What if the King is in more danger than you realize?" I continued, leaning forward, my heart hammering against my ribs. "What if those traitors aren't hiding in the shadows anymore? What if they plan to target him in the open, where his power and his guards won't be enough to save him?"
Xavier, disguised behind those ridiculous glasses and the false mustache, didn't flinch. He leaned back, his fingers tracing the edge of his saucer with a calmness that only a man who had faced death a thousand times could possess.
"Don't worry, Elena," he said, his blue eyes sharp and steady behind the lenses. "The King is not as blind as you might think. He knows there are traitors among his council. He’s felt the shift in the air for months. He simply hasn't narrowed down which ones have already crossed the line."