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**Chapter 126: The Trembling Earth**
The wind carried a strange urgency as it wove through the vineyard, rustling the vines with an energy that did not belong to the fading daylight. The roots beneath the soil had been steady, holding onto the balance the siblings had fought to protect. But now—now they trembled. Not as though breaking, but shifting, reaching, seeking.
Elena stood at the heart of the vineyard, the pendant glowing erratically against her skin. Its warmth was uneven now, pulsing with a rhythm she could not understand. "The vineyard feels... restless," she murmured, a thread of unease creeping into her voice. "Like it's bracing for something."
Matteo ran his fingers through the soil, his jaw tight as he felt the vineyard's pulse beneath his fingertips. "It's not pulling apart," he said. "But something is moving beneath it. Something that wasn't here before."
Isabella narrowed her eyes, scanning the land with a sharp intensity. "Then we figure out what it is," she said firmly. "We've fought for this balance—we're not letting something unravel it now."
Luca's gaze flickered toward the far end of the vineyard, toward the horizon where the shadows stretched a little too long. "Whatever is shifting beneath us," he muttered, "it's not just the land responding—it's the Veil. It's waking up."
Carlo approached slowly, the ornate box resting heavily in his grasp. His expression was measured, but the way he tightened his grip told them all he knew more than he had said. "The vineyard is alive because of its connection to you," he said. "But there are ties we haven't explored yet—truths we haven't faced."
Elena turned to Carlo, her breath steady despite the weight of his words. "What aren't we seeing?" she asked. "If the Veil is shifting, what does that mean for the roots—and for us?"
Carlo hesitated, searching their faces before speaking. "It means the vineyard isn't the only one watching," he said. "Something else has been waiting for this moment. And now—it's here."
The siblings exchanged tense glances, the weight of his words sinking into the cool evening air. Pietro lingered at the edge of the group, his arms crossed tightly, his smirk replaced with something far more serious. "And what if it's not something we want to meet?" he asked. "What if the vineyard isn't bracing—it's warning us?"
Elena stepped forward, the glow of her pendant pulsing stronger now. The earth beneath her felt alive, aware, responding to her presence. "Then we don't run," she said, her voice steady. "We face it. Together."
The wind howled suddenly, cutting through the vineyard with a force that made the vines tremble. The whispers of the Veil rose—not as fragmented echoes, but as something clear, something whole. The ground beneath them shuddered, and as the night settled, the vineyard exhaled.
Something was coming.
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