CH.93

The sound of hurried footsteps approaching broke through her whirling thoughts.

She looked up to see Marcus, her most trusted assistant, rushing towards her with naked concern etched across his features.

"My lady!" He skidded to a halt before her. "I felt an immense surge of mystical energy emanating from this chamber. Are you unharmed?"

She waved off his worries. "I am unhurt, but we have a potential crisis on our hands."

She beckoned Marcus closer with an impatient gesture, then began relaying in clipped tones everything she had witnessed regarding Knox's unexpected abilities and the implications they carried.

Marcus's eyes widened incrementally until they were as large as saucers. "You cannot possibly be suggesting..." He trailed off, visibly shaken. "That he is one of the Ancient Ones?"

"It would certainly explain a great deal about his nature," she said with a curt nod. "Which means our entire situation has abruptly changed in ways we could never have foreseen."

A cold, calculating smirk curved her lips as she turned to face her follower fully. "Gather the others at once. It is past time they were made aware of the true scope of the being we have been unwittingly harboring right under our very noses all this time."

Her voice took on a hard, unyielding edge. "Knox is no mere being - he is something far more dangerous. And we will not allow this...this entity to continue masquerading as a harmless person while it enacts whatever twisted machinations it has in store."

Marcus inclined his head in solemn acknowledgment of her command. "It will be done, my lady. We shall not let this deceiver's true, malignant nature remain cloaked in shadow any longer. Its real face will be exposed for all to see."

With that, Marcus hurried off to do as he was ordered.

The woman allowed a thin smile of cold satisfaction to crease her features.

Her fingers flexed at her sides, calling forth a faint shimmer of energy that danced along her fingertips like spectral flames. “I can’t say my mission was entirely fruitless can I?” She chuckled wickedly.

'This madness must cease before it consumes you entirely,' a regretful voice pleaded from the depths of her consciousness. 'You're treading a path that will leave your soul irreparably tarnished, with no hope of redemption or return.'

'Did I ask for your worthless opinion?' she snarled back viciously, her mental defenses slamming up like impenetrable walls. 'You came crawling to me, a broken, sniveling wretch begging for sanctuary within my body and mind. And in your desperation, you foolishly offered me access to unfathomable power in exchange.'

A sinister chuckle bubbled up from her throat. 'But you gravely underestimated me, didn't you? Thinking you could simply use me while still maintaining control.'

She slowly paced the dimly lit confines of the room. 'You made one critical mistake, you arrogant fool - you failed to guard your innermost thoughts and vulnerabilities closely enough while inhabiting my form.'

Her lips curved into a cruel, taunting smile. 'Now you'll dance to my every twisted tune, using those precious abilities of yours to achieve my goals. And very soon, I'll discover a way to fully sever your interference and block you from obstructing my visions.'

Flashes of azure flames and Knox's face contorted into an expression of primal, unbridled fury kept replaying over and over in her mind like a continuous loop.

She needed to be cautious yet decisive in how she proceeded from here. His power was like a double-edged sword. It could potentially be their greatest weapon against him if leveraged properly, or their ultimate downfall if mishandled.

Her pacing stopped abruptly in front of an immense, ornately-carved mirror hanging on the far wall, its surface rippling with an otherworldly glow.

She reached out with both hands, pressing her fingertips to the liquid-like glass and letting them sink beneath the surface as she murmured an ancient incantation in a guttural tongue.

The mirror's surface immediately flickered to life, revealing images of Knox and Serena back at the secluded villa.

She watched them intently.

Her eyes narrowing as she observed the clear tenderness in Knox's interactions with the girl, the unmistakable vulnerability he seemed to show around her.

It was a weakness, she realized with a cruel smile twisting her lips. One she could certainly exploit to her advantage.

Her dark thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a brilliant flare of mystical energy shattered the mirror in a deafening explosion, raining down shards of tinkling glass.

The force almost sent her reeling backward but she was quick to shield her face from the debris.

However, she caught an angry glimpse of the same woman she had seen with Knox earlier, standing beside a strikingly familiar-looking man with intense amber eyes.

Wait...why did those two strangers seem so hauntingly familiar to her? Like she had encountered them before, in some other distant life perhaps?

Her eyes narrowed to slits as realization began creeping in.

The man with Knox...he bore an uncanny resemblance to the long-exiled prince back then.

Though his outward visage had changed, adapted to blend in with modern society, she could never forget those distinctive eyes that burned with quiet intensity.

And Knox just so happened to possess those exact same piercing orbs.

Then it hit her like a ton of bricks - the major corporations Gaard Corp and the Cavalieri Group that had been such thorns in the side of the royal family for decades now. The same names that should have been extinct long ago, wiped out after that ancient conflict that nearly tore the world asunder.

She suddenly threw her head back and let out a raucous peal of wicked laughter that echoed off the walls.

“Well, well, well...it seems the true enemies we have been seeking had been right under our noses this entire time, masquerading as ordinary people while they plotted their insidious machinations.”

If her suspicions proved correct, she realized with a devilish grin, they may have just stumbled upon the key to unraveling mysteries that spanned back to the very dawn of their civilization itself.

"Marcus!" she barked out, not bothering to keep the glee from her tone.

Her most trusted subordinate materialized in the doorway instantly. “My lady,” he murmured, awaiting her command.

"We have a new top priority that takes precedence over all else."

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