The estate hadn't changed.
Cold marble. Gold trim. Silence between walls too wide to hear a child cry.
Rayan stood at the gates, unmoving.
Kael waited at his side, dressed in black, silent like a shadow given form.
They had no guards to stop them.
Because Kael had bought the entire security division the day before.
"I want to see Room 7-C," Rayan said.
Kael nodded once.
And led him.
They passed portraits.
Isabelle's perfect smile watched them from gilded frames, still smug in oil and canvas.
They passed the Omega altar—once used for "blessing" bloodlines and punishing deviation.
Then finally—
The Lower Wing.
Rayan had to input the old code himself.
Still remembered the keys.
Still remembered the chill that hit him when the door hissed open.
Room 7-C was smaller than he remembered.
Ten by ten feet.
No windows.
Metal chair bolted to the floor.
Straps.
Mirror above.
Nothing else.
Rayan stepped inside.
It was freezing.
His breath fogged the air.
