THE GENERAL'S DISGRACED HEIR

Veylith's crimson eyes blazed with renewed intensity as she settled back into her chair, the temperature in the transformed tavern dropping several degrees. Her aristocratic composure had returned, but beneath it lurked something far more dangerous, the full weight of her ancient power slowly awakening from its dormancy.

"For a human," she said, her voice carrying harmonic undertones that made the air itself vibrate, "you are quite bold." Her gaze fixed on David with predatory precision. "First, to recount things I have never shared with another living soul. Second..." Her eyes shifted to Seraphina, cataloging every subtle detail of her posture, the way she unconsciously positioned herself within David's reach, the immediate obedience in her bearing. "To hold my dearest mentor's daughter as a servant of sorts."

The room began to shake, glasses rattling on their shelves as Veylith's power pressed against the boundaries of her domain. "And last, demanding an alliance with the Mistress of the Creed of Whispers as if you hold some position of authority over me."

David felt the pressure like a physical weight, his enhanced senses screaming warnings as the very fabric of reality strained under Veylith's rising power. The casual elegance of moments before was giving way to something far more primal, the awakening of a being who had survived millennia in the Nightmare Realm through sheer, overwhelming force.

But it was Seraphina's reaction that surprised them both.

She had remained silent since her summoning, her mind reeling from the revelations crashing over her like successive waves. Her mother's friend. Her mentor. Why had she never known? Where had this woman been during all those years of exile, of loneliness, of being cast out by the pure-bloods who saw her mixed heritage as an abomination?

As Veylith's pressure built, threatening to crush David where he sat, Seraphina felt an echo of something achingly familiar, the overwhelming, suffocating presence of the High Witch Coven that had always looked down on her, that had made her feel small and worthless and wrong.

The memory snapped her into motion.

Without hesitation, she stepped between David and Veylith, arms spread wide in a protective gesture that spoke of absolute determination. Her own power flared in response, not the death magic she'd recently awakened, but something deeper, more fundamental. The force of her will slammed against Veylith's pressure like a shield wall, deflecting it away from David with surprising effectiveness.

Both David and Veylith moved to stand, alarm flickering across their features for entirely different reasons. They knew something Seraphina didn't—something that made her protective gesture both touching and potentially catastrophic.

"Stop," Seraphina commanded, her voice carrying an authority that surprised even her. "Stop your assumptions. I might serve David, yes, but we are lovers. And I don't need some witch claiming to be my mother's friend trying to protect me now, not after all these years of silence."

The words hit Veylith like physical blows. Her heart shook as the full weight of her abandonment came crashing down, the choice she'd made to leave rather than risk the child, the years of watching from afar, the knowledge that Seraphina had suffered alone while she built her power base in the shadows.

"Seraphina," David said quietly, his voice cutting through the building tension with unexpected gentleness, "calm down. Listen to your aunt."

The word hung in the air like a thunderclap.

Both women stared at David in shock, Seraphina's protective stance faltering as her mind struggled to process what he'd just said, Veylith's face going pale as she realized the carefully guarded secret had just been exposed.

"No," Veylith murmured, clutching her head as sharp pain bloomed behind her eyes. "It's out now."

Her mask slipped. Centuries of restraint unraveled in a breath, undone by the effortless cruelty of David's words.

"Aunt?" Seraphina repeated, the word barely a whisper as she looked between David and Veylith. "Aunt?" Her voice grew stronger, more confused. "What do you mean, aunt?"

But before anyone could answer, Seraphina doubled over, blood spattering the elegant tavern floor as she coughed violently. Her body convulsed, power crackling around her in chaotic, uncontrolled bursts.

Both David and Veylith lunged forward, catching her as she collapsed. David's arms encircled her waist while Veylith supported her shoulders, their earlier tension forgotten in the face of immediate crisis.

"The awakening," Veylith breathed, recognition dawning in her crimson eyes. "She bears two blessings, her mother's witch heritage and her father's human adaptability. They're becoming chaotic as her power tries to stabilize."

David swept Seraphina into a princess carry, her body burning with fever as conflicting energies warred within her. "Where?" he demanded tersely. "She needs somewhere safe, somewhere we can help her through this."

Veylith was already moving, leading them toward a door that hadn't existed moments before. It opened onto a corridor that defied conventional geometry, space folding in on itself in ways that made David's enhanced perception ache. This was her domain's true heart, the void space that only she could navigate.

As they moved through the impossible architecture, Seraphina's condition worsened. Her body pulsed with increasing heat, power bleeding from her in visible waves that made the air shimmer. She murmured incoherently, lost in fever dreams where past and present blurred together.

Veylith stopped before another door, her hand trembling on the ornate handle. Tears gathered in her crimson eyes as she looked down at her sister's daughter, the child she'd abandoned to protect, now suffering because of powers inherited from both sides of a fractured family.

"How?" she demanded, her voice breaking. "How was she able to awaken without the goddess's direct intervention? The death magic she demonstrated... it should have required a divine blessing, a formal acknowledgment from the Sovereign herself."

David's expression tightened, irritation flickering across his features as Seraphina's breathing grew more labored. "Does that matter right now?" he snapped, his usual calm cracking under the pressure of seeing her in pain.

The temperature plummeted as something ancient and terrible stirred in response to his tone. A cold brush of death swept through the corridor, not Seraphina's controlled magic, but something far older and more primal. The aura carried with it such profound fear, such bone-deep terror, that David's enhanced senses screamed warnings. Yet he stood his ground despite the pain, his protective instincts overriding his survival instincts.

David drew a shuddering breath, forcing himself to meet Veylith's gaze despite the overwhelming presence bearing down on him. "I love her," he said simply, the words carrying a weight that cut through even the supernatural terror. "I'll explain everything after I'm done helping her. But right now, she needs us."

He moved toward the door, but Veylith's hand shot out to block his path. "What are you going to do?" she demanded. "This isn't something that can be solved with conventional methods. The awakening process for mixed heritage—"

David didn't bother to explain. Instead, he leaned close to Veylith's ear and whispered something that left her speechless, her eyes widening in shock and recognition.

"Thalassa Black Rose Maven."

The true name hung between them like a bridge across decades of separation and pain. Veylith's hand fell away from the door as the full implications crashed over her, David knew not just her secret relationship to Seraphina, but her sister's true name, the one that had been buried with the dead, the one that only family should know.

Her legs nearly gave out as she stepped aside, allowing David to push through the door with Seraphina burning in his arms. As the door closed behind them, Veylith remained in the corridor, staring at the ornate wood with tears streaming down her face.

"How?" she whispered to the empty air. "How do you know my sister's name, David De Gror? What else do you know about the family I lost?"

Inside the chamber beyond, David laid Seraphina gently on the bed, her fevered form still pulsing with chaotic energy. His mind raced through possibilities, drawing on knowledge from multiple sources, Solomon's legacy, his understanding of magical theory, his growing comprehension of the forces that governed this world.

The awakening was indeed dangerous for mixed heritage individuals. The competing magical systems could tear a person apart from the inside if not properly balanced. But David had resources Veylith didn't know about, knowledge she couldn't access.

His System interface flickered to life, having remained dormant since the knight's destruction:

EMERGENCY PROTOCOL ACTIVATED PARTNER IN CRITICAL CONDITION STABILIZATION OPTIONS AVAILABLE

As David began the delicate work of saving the woman he loved, Veylith remained outside, grappling with the knowledge that this mysterious young man somehow held the keys to her family's deepest secrets and might be the only one who could save her sister's daughter from the very heritage that connected them all.