Aurelio's POV
The storm outside mirrored the one in his chest. Wind battered the windows of the Santoro estate as if it wanted in. As if the past itself were demanding entrance.
Aurelio stood before the old armoire in his father's private study—one that hadn't been touched in over a decade. He had kept it locked. Buried. Forgotten.
But not anymore.
The moment Isabella revealed the truth about their lineage, the key his father once wore around his neck burned like fire in his pocket.
He slipped it into the keyhole. Turned.
The door creaked open.
Inside were tomes, scrolls, and a small obsidian box.
He opened it slowly.
A ring—Santoro's crest, but beneath it, an ancient sigil. One that pulsed now… responding to him.
His hand trembled.
Flash—
He saw a glimpse of his father, standing in the shadows, cloaked in ceremonial robes. His voice—harsh, pained—"You were never supposed to awaken it. God help us all if the blood sings again."
Then another flash—
Aurelio, as a child, unconscious on the ground, surrounded by shattered glass and flames. His mother weeping. Isabella screaming.
He blinked. The memory vanished.
But it had happened.
The bloodline had never been dead. Only dormant.
Now it was roaring back to life.
---
Raven's POV
She watched Luna sleep in the candlelit room, her small chest rising and falling peacefully. Too peacefully.
Raven knew better.
The air around them had shifted.
Luna had drawn a symbol on the wall earlier with her fingers in the condensation of the window. A symbol Raven had never taught her.
It matched the one on the ring Aurelio had found.
A soft knock interrupted her thoughts.
Isabella.
"They're moving," she said. "I just intercepted a coded message from your agency. Your boss—he's not just investigating the Syndicate. He's funding them. He's been looking for you since you left."
Raven's blood went cold.
"I… I trusted him."
"He knows about Luna, Raven. You're not safe anymore."
---
Villain POV – Dr. Cesare Marone
Deep within the hidden facility, Dr. Marone watched the footage.
The girl had drawn the sigil.
"Activate the extraction protocol," he said, tapping the screen. "She's the missing piece."
A guard beside him shifted uncomfortably. "Sir, what about the father?"
Marone smiled cruelly. "Let Aurelio Santoro come. He doesn't know what he truly is yet. But when he does…"
He leaned in, whispering to himself.
"…he'll either join us… or burn the world trying to protect her."
---
Back to Aurelio
He slipped the ring on.
Pain shot up his arm—visions, memories, fire, screams.
And one phrase echoed in his skull:
"The child bears the eclipse, but the father… he is the shadow reborn."