#Chapter 155 - Soon

Damon The vial was smaller than I expected. There was no grand chest, no ornate container, just a slender glass tube sealed with wax, filled with liquid so faintly luminous it seemed to hold its own quiet heartbeat. It sat on the low table between us, catching the light from the single oil lamp in. For a moment, the world narrowed to nothing but that vial. Half a cure, Zane murmured in my head, low and distrustful. Half a leash. I clenched my jaw and forced my gaze upward. Ella sat opposite, draped in crimson silks, her posture loose with satisfaction. Elena lingered by the railing with her hands clasped tightly in front of her. I’d stopped expecting her to speak when her mother was present. Whatever objections she might have had, they’d been swallowed long ago under her mother’s shadow. “You’ve kept your end of the bargain,” Ella said, voice smooth and saccharine. “I trust you’ll do the same tomorrow evening, when the council gathers.” The engagement announcement.