Elara Vance
Morning came too quickly. It always did after nights like that.
I hadn’t really slept—just drifted in and out of shallow, restless fragments of that night, but some tangled with shadows, shelves, and the lingering feeling of being watched. Even now, sitting upright beside Nina in the bed, I could still feel the archives clinging to me—the dust, the silence, the weight of everything I hadn't found.
But I felt totally safe since I had Nina beside me, and Liam was next door, and the info that Nina told me last night gave me a chance to follow my gut this time.
My alarm buzzed for the third time before I finally slapped it off.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m up,” I muttered, voice rough.
The room was dim, grey light filtering weakly through the curtains. Rain still streaked the window, softer now, but persistent. Like it had no intention of letting go of the night.
Neither did I.
Great.
I dragged a hand through my hair, exhaling slowly.The ledger. The thought snapped into focus instantly, sharper than any caffeine ever could. I hadn’t found it. But I hadn't been wrong either.
It was there, in the new archive.
Which meant one thing—I needed a better plan. A more precise one. Thankfully, I wasn’t doing this alone.
I woke Nina up as I went back to my room to get ready for the classes.
I wore navy blue fitted jeans and a full-sleeve white crop top. which made my grey iris pop out.
As I was braiding my hair in the living room before having breakfast with Nina.
“Ni, I haven't seen Liam since this morning. I am pretty sure I heard him in his room last night before I came to sleep with you,” I ask her as I take a bit of my PB & J.
She just shrugged it off, “I think he left somewhere at 5 in the morning, since I heard the front door close. Probably shagging someone early morning, who knows?”
“Whatever, it's getting late, we should probably head to classes. We have the first two periods of economics in the same class.”It had still been raining for the past 2 days, but it wasn’t as violent as last night. After finishing our breakfast, we headed for today's classes.
God, Nina was dressed in the university's gym uniform. Her natural platinum blonde hair always complemented her appearance. Standing at 5’10”, she had always been a cheerful, carefree, sunshine girl who believed in letting time take its course. In contrast, I have always been responsible and serious, wanting everything to be perfect and stay on top so the students of the eclipsed court could rely on me.
Nina, Liam, Celine, and others have always teased me for being too uptight, calling me a prude and serious, constantly trying to persuade me to relax fully — something I absolutely cannot do.
It's not that I don't want to, I just don't know how.
We walk into the campus corridors, which are once again bustling with students and professors, unlike last night…. That's when I saw Liam and Celine walking towards us from the opposite direction.
“Heyyyy, ell,” their voices barely heard. Why have they always been so in unison every time they talk, ever since they both got to know each other?
“Morning, guys.” Of course, Nina has always been the first to talk. I simply nod at them as we make our way to our respective classes…..
Nina, Liam, and I had economics today, which is the only class that occasionally combines 2nd and 3rd-year students. Apparently, today is one of those days. Nina and Liam are business students, while I am an art student. Celine, on the other hand, is a 2nd year and studying medicine.
Celine’s department was right between the business and the art department.
“Hey Liam, can I talk to you about something?” I wanted to ask him about his disappearance this morning; it was unusual of him to leave without letting Nina or me, at least without a text.
But the bell rings, indicating the classes have started. I look at him more, over at him, and unconsciously at Celine too. Celine seemed unaffected, but I still can't put my mind on the fact that these two started hanging out. Other than the fact that these two have always been in unison whenever they spoke. But if put in the same room for more than 5 minutes, hell, who knows, sometimes maybe in 2 minutes they might start ripping each other's heads off.
“Guys gotta go, see you three at your dorm, see ya.” With that, Ginny turns after giving me a suspicious nod and heads towards the medical block. Wait…was that nod meant for me or…i turn behind to see Liam.
I shake off whatever that was, as Nina drags me towards our 1st class while Liam follows us.
“You went alone?”
Liam’s voice was low, controlled—but I knew him well enough to hear the edge beneath it.
We were seated in the back corner of the lecture hall, laptops open, notebooks out, three of us pretending to care about whatever the professor was saying about economic structures.
Spoiler: we didn’t.
“I didn’t exactly have time to schedule another team outing,” I whispered back, keeping my eyes forward. “It was a recon mission. One that everyone, including you and Nina, failed to complete, I don't just give out some lame mission, nor have I ever given the eclisped court a task that has failed to be completed.” I look at him calmly as my voice stays in a whisper tone.
“A recon mission where you got nothing,” he hissed, but I could hear the concern in his voice.
“Do I need to remind you that the task I had given always takes a maximum of two days. And we've been in this for what? Days? Weeks? But I did get some info, Nina helped.”
“I know damn it, I get it, okay?, But you shouldn’t have gone alone, Ell,” he reached for my hand under the desk. I let him.
“You got soaked and came back empty-handed.” ok ouch, that was blunt. I glance at him, and he raises an eyebrow.
Ok fair. still—
“I know where it is now,” I said quietly.
That got his attention.
His fingers paused over her keyboard. “Where?”
“Third row. Fifth shelf. Behind outdated philosophy texts.”
“You’re sure?”His eyes narrowed slightly, already calculating.
“No,” I admitted. “But it’s the only place that made sense. Even Nina thought so, I think it's in the new archives. Everything else was too clean. Too obvious.”
Nina leaned back slightly, arms crossing. Looking at Liam and me. She never gets distracted from the economics lecture, until or unless he name was called up on.
“Sorry,” I mouth to her. She was sitting on the other side of me.
“That aligns with what I found,” Li murmured. “Hidden in plain sight. Low-value category masking high-value content.”
I smirked faintly. “See? Not a total waste of time,” he didn’t smile back.
“You shouldn’t have gone alone,” he repeated.
I sighed. “Noted. Filed. Ignored.”
“Elara—”
“I’m going back tonight.”That stopped him.
For a second, he just looked at me.
Then—
“Of course you are.”
_______
Classes blurred together. Voices. Notes. Slides. None of it stuck.
Every ticking second felt like something to endure rather than experience. My leg bounced under the desk constantly, my mind replaying last night over and over again.
The shelves.
The silence.
That feeling.
Something had been off. Not just the missing ledger.
Something else.
Something I couldn’t quite name. By the time the final lecture ended, my patience was gone. I packed my bag quickly, and I didn't look at Liam or Nina, already halfway out the door before the professor finished speaking. I skipped the rest of my classes cause i know I'll get notes or forcefully be taught by Nina.
I spent the rest of the class hours in the cafeteria, studying by myself more like being zoned out. As all classes end, I stay back. Waiting for everyone to leave.
“Tonight,” I muttered under my breath.
Tonight, I would find it.
No mistakes.
No hesitation.
No distractions.
The rain had lessened, but the air still carried its chill. This time I took the corridors
Growth. Maturity. self-preservation.(Shocking, i know.)
The campus was quieter than before, though not empty. A few lights still burned in distant windows, silhouettes moving behind curtains. But the new archives? They would be empty. They had to be.
I reached the door, pausing only briefly before pushing it open.
The smell was a little different, not the same old paper; it was a little bit cleaner, but it still held secrets.
I stepped inside, turning the flashlight on, heart steady, my focus was somehow sharp tonight.
---- I knew exactly where to look, thanks to Nina’s meticulous research. Third row, fifth shelf, behind the outdated philosophy texts. It echoed in my mind as i moved through the aisles with purpose this time—no,wondering, no guessing.
My fingers hovered over the spies, tracing titles that no one had touched in years.
This was it. It had to be.
I slide one book aside then another. And there—
A gap.
My pulse spiked. yes…” i breathed. I reached in—
“Looking for something, little bird?”
The voice, deep and resonant, sliced through the silence like a razor. I froze, my breath catching in my throat. Kaelen Thorne. Of course.
He moved like a phantom, silent and deadly.
I spun around, the flashlight beam momentarily blinding him before I angled it away. He stood there, kaelen throne stood in the archway.
Of course he did.
Because apparently, the universe had a sense of humor. A very cruel one.
He looked exactly like he belonged there.
Dark hair slightly damp, like he’d just stepped in from the night. Black leather jacket fitted perfectly to his frame, broad shoulders outlined sharply under the dim light. He didn’t look like a student. He looked like a warning.
“Thorne,” I managed, my voice steadier than I felt. “Fancy meeting you here. Slumming it in the archives?”
A corner of his mouth quirked, a ghost of a smirk, the same kind when someone knows exactly how to make the other person quiver. “Some of us prefer to earn our knowledge, Vance. Unlike those who pilfer it.” His gaze dropped to my hands, then to the shelf I’d been rummaging through.
He knew. He always knew.
“ I’m just… doing some late-night research,” I lied, trying to sound nonchalant. The lie sounded thin, even to me. My heart was still pounding, but a spark of defiance ignited within me. I wouldn’t let him intimidate me.
He meticulously took a slow step closer, and then another. Slow. deliberate.
The space between us seemed to shrink,tension filling it like static before a storm. He leans down, tilting his head to the side a little as if he’s trying to study ME.
“Research, hmm?” he repeated softly “Or perhaps… a treasure hunt for your little Eclipsed Court?” His voice was a low rumble, laced with a dangerous amusement.
My chest tightened. He leaned in even more.
“You’re out of your depth, Elara.”
My name on his lips was a jolt, something unexpected. Sharper. More personal— no what the hell im i thinking.
I’ve never heard him calling me by my name in past2 year. “And you’re out of your jurisdiction, Thorne,” i shot back. “This isn’t your territory.”
He stopped just a foot away, close enough for me to feel the steady, overwhelming, subtle warmth radiating from him, to catch a faint scent of rain and something musky, undeniably masculine. His eyes, dark as obsidian, locked onto mine.
Unblinking.
Unyielding.
“Everywhere is my territory, Vance,” he said quietly. “You just haven’t realized it yet.”
Before I could respond—he moved fast.
He reached out, his long fingers brushing past my arm to pluck a small, leather-bound book from the shelf right where I had been searching. The ledger. My breath hitched. He hadn’t even looked. He just knew. He held it up, a sardonic smile now playing on his lips. “Is this what you were looking for?”
My face burned. Caught. Red-handed. “Give that back, Thorne,” i said, sharper now. “It’s not yours.”
He tilted his head slightly, “Oh, but it is,” he countered, his thumb tracing the worn cover. “Everything in these archives, every secret whispered in these halls, eventually finds its way to the Obsidian Circle. And to me.” He paused, his gaze dropping somewhere to my cheek for a fleeting moment before returning to my eyes. For asecond, neither of us moved. The air between us happened to be charged. Heavy. Dangerous. His eyes dropped—just briefly—to my lips.
Then back up.
“You have a choice, little bird,” he said quietly. I didnt like the way he calls me by the infuriating name. But it was like he’d been saying it longer than i realized.
“Walk away,” he continued. “ forget you ever saw me.”
He tossed the ledger lightly in his hand, a silent challenge.” or keep playing in the shadows…” his voice lowered. “ and find out how sharp they really are.”
The rain outside intensified, tapping against the windows like a warning. Mirroring the storm brewing between us.
I stared at him then at the ledger.
The devil knows how much I hated him. I hated his arrogance, his power, his infuriating ability to always be one step ahead. I hated the way he looked at me like i was both predictable and unpredictable at the same time.
I hated that he was right there—and i couldn’t take the ledger from him, not that i can’t its that i wont.
But beneath the anger, a dangerous flicker of something else ignited – a thrill, a challenge, a spark that promised a fire. I stepped forward, just slightly. Enough to close the distance he had created. “This isn’t over, Throne.”
His expression didn’t change, still had his usual psychotic grin. He took a step back and just like that tension broke. But never completely. because this—This was far from over. I would get that ledger back. And I would make him regret ever crossing my path. This was war. And I, Elara Vance, was ready to fight.
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