Free Web NovelChapter 385: I Should Have Trusted
Zethar;
The words sit between us long after I say them. Final in a way that doesn’t need emphasis.
Our family is indeed in grave danger.
Lioran doesn’t move, and neither do I.
The library feels different now, even though nothing about it has changed. We’re still surrounded by the same shelves. The same silence holds steady, and the dust still lingers in the air like it has since I’ve been in here.
Everything is still the same, but the library no longer feels like a place meant for knowledge. Now, it feels like a place that has been hiding something.
And we’ve just uncovered it.
I rest my forearms on my knees, the book still sitting between us on the floor, and stare at it without really seeing it.
My mind is no longer on the words themselves. It’s on everything those words have just undone.
"They’re not just dangerous," Lioran says after a moment— his voice quieter than I’ve ever heard it. "They’re... unstoppable." He mutters, and I shake my head once.
"No. Not unstoppable." I say, and he looks at me.
"They were sealed," I continue, nodding to myself.
"That means they can be contained. It means there’s a way to stop them again." I add, but even as I say it, I hear how thin it sounds.
My words are not wrong... But they are not comforting either.
Because sealing the sect the first time cost a war. It cost lives... It cost my grandfather.
And now... Now they’re back.
Lioran exhales slowly, dragging a hand over his face before letting it fall.
"This kind of thing doesn’t just happen," he says, and my brows knot.
What?
"Something like that doesn’t just... break loose." He explains, and my brows lift in realisation.
He’s right. That’s the part that matters. The part that refuses to sit quietly in my mind.
"How did they awaken?" I ask the question currently on both our minds, and Lioran doesn’t answer.
Because he can’t, and neither can I.
Silence falls as we think.
If something that powerful had simply returned on its own... We would have felt it.
Nagari would have felt it.
Aunt Selthía would have known they were breaking free long before now.
This didn’t creep in quietly. It was triggered.
My jaw tightens slightly as the thought settles into something solid. The only sensible answer that is too disturbing to accept.
"Someone did this," I speak as I look at Lioran, and his gaze sharpens.
"You’re sure?" he asks, and I nod.
"Yes," I reply matter-of-factly. There’s no room for doubt anymore.
"The Sect couldn’t break the seal themselves," I explain, and Lioran listens.
"If they could have, they would have done it a long time ago. Which means to break the deal—"
"They needed help," Lioran finishes, and I nod in agreement.
"Exactly," I reply.
The implication of this sits like a boulder against us. Because it means someone... somewhere— Made a choice.
A deliberate one to bring these monsters back.
And that means whoever did it either knew exactly what they were unleashing— Or didn’t understand it at all.
Neither possibility sits right, and I shut my eyes.
My thoughts shift again, faster now.
I finally understand why she made me deliver the message by mouth.
She didn’t want it written. She didn’t want it traced. She didn’t want anyone else to know it unless they had to.
Because this isn’t just a threat. It’s something that spreads. Something that corrupts. Something that—
My chest tightens as a naw slams into my consciousness.
Elián!!
The thought of him hits harder than the rest.
Because suddenly, everything aligns in a way I don’t like.
The strange feeling I had when I left Nagari... That subtle shift in the bond. That feeling of something unfamiliar brushing against our bond.
I ignored it.
I told myself it was nothing. I told myself I was imagining it. After all, I’m the one responsible for feeling his unease, and he was sad about my departure, so I thought—
"I felt something when I left," I say slowly, and Lioran looks at me immediately.
I hesitate for half a second, then continue.
"It wasn’t clear enough to name. But it didn’t feel right." I admit, and I frown slightly, trying to put it into words.
"It felt like something else was there. Not Elián. Not part of the bond—" I constitute, and Lioran pauses.
"Bond? You—You marked Elien??" He asks, and my brows knot.
"Elien? What are you— Lio, listen to what I’m saying. I share a temporary mark with Elián." I reply, laying emphasis on Elián’s name as I wonder why he has refused to learn it.
"Oh..." he replies, and I let out a breath.
"I’m saying through that bond, as I left, I could feel something... wrong..." I confess, and Lioran’s expression tightens.
"And you didn’t say anything?" He asks, and I sigh.
"I didn’t understand it," I reply.
"And I thought—" I stop, exhaling quietly. "I thought it was nothing."
It wasn’t. I know that now, and the truth stings.
"I left them there," I mutter. And the guilt in my voice comes out sharper this time.
Lioran doesn’t interrupt and doesn’t try to soften it.
Because he knows. He understands exactly what that means.
"I left when something was already wrong," I continue, with my voice tightening slightly.
"I felt it, and I still left. Because I was frustrated. Because I didn’t think I was needed... Because I let something small blind me to something bigger." I confess,s and the silence resumes its place as I stop talking.
The anger that follows isn’t directed outward. It’s directed at myself. And it hits brutally.
"You didn’t know," Lioran says, and I let out a breath as I shake my head.
"I should have," I answer quickly because that is the truth.
I know how I think. I know how I notice things. How I connect them. freewēbnoveℓ.com
I should have trusted that instinct, but instead— I walked away from it.
