Blood Resonance

Chapter 4 – Confrontation

The Virein estate’s eastern courtyard shimmered beneath a cloudless sun, its marble paths lined with floating lanterns and mana-sigils embedded into every arch. A sleek black transport car purred at the curb, its chassis rune-etched and glowing faintly like a beast barely leashed.

Caelus stood beside it. Silent. Still.

The breeze pulled at his silver hair, but he didn’t flinch. His expression was as lifeless as the stone under his feet—cold, unshifting.

Elaris approached from behind, dressed in formal gray and white with the Virein crest pressed into her left shoulder.

"You're early," she muttered.

He didn’t answer.

She didn’t expect him to.

"I still don’t get why Father makes me go with you. You don’t even like them." Her voice sharpened. "What even happened between you and them? You used to talk. Now you act like you don’t even care they exist."

Nothing.

She clicked her tongue, storming past him into the vehicle.

Caelus followed.

Inside, Dravin stood at ease by the rear seats, arms folded. The Shadow Knight gave him a shallow nod, which Caelus returned with nothing more than a flick of his eyes.

The car slid forward, carving its way toward the outer social district—where the four who called themselves Elaris’s “friends” waited.

They arrived at a hanging plaza layered in white stone and blue-glass fountains, high above the lower city like a private throne carved for nobles too proud to touch the ground.

Four figures stood waiting.

• Talon Veyr, dark-haired, smirking already like he’d won a prize.

• Myra Venholt, twitchy with a predator’s grin that never quite reached her eyes.

• Selene Draith, elegant and bored, her gaze trailing Caelus like something stuck to the bottom of her shoe.

• Alia Crest, quiet, soft-spoken, standing just a little behind the others, eyes watchful.

Talon stepped forward first.

“So Caelus is still trailing behind like some kind of mute stalker.”

Caelus met his eyes.

He didn’t move.

Didn’t blink.

But something in the air turned colder.

Talon faltered—barely—but kept talking.

"You got something to say, or do you just freak everyone out with that empty stare?"

Elaris stepped forward, frustrated, but Caelus spoke first.

"Speak again," he said, voice low and flat, "and I will erase you from this city."

The words weren’t loud. They weren’t angry. But they dropped like iron.

Talon stiffened.

Selene’s eyes narrowed. Myra’s smirk twitched. Alia glanced away—but only for a moment.

"Caelus!" Elaris hissed. "That’s not—"

His gaze shifted.

"Be quiet."

No tone. No rise. Just a command.

And she obeyed it, frozen on the spot.

The others looked at her, then at him. No one laughed.

Later, inside the car.

Silence draped the cabin like a suffocating veil.

Caelus sat beside the window, one hand against the pane, eyes watching the city blur past. Elaris sat opposite, arms crossed tightly, lips pressed thin.

The others were quiet.

Even Talon had lost his edge—though he still sat upright, holding onto what pride he had left.

"You shouldn’t talk to your sister like that," he said eventually, a mocking lilt forced into his tone. "Family or not, that was overkill."

Caelus turned his head.

His stare was like a drawn blade—silent, cold, and already too close.

"You hold no authority here. Nor in your own household," he replied. "Speak again, and I will remove your family."

It was spoken not as a threat.

But as something already decided.

Talon paled.

Myra didn’t twitch. Selene leaned ever so slightly away from him.

Only Alia Crest met his gaze—eyes calm, thoughtful, unblinking, with a hint of saddness.

Elaris looked down.

Dravin said nothing. His posture hadn’t shifted once.

None of them spoke again for the rest of the ride.

When they returned to the estate, the car door opened with a soft hiss.

Dravin stepped out first.

Caelus followed, never sparing a backward glance.

The others trickled out one by one.

Myra’s heels clicked louder than they needed to. Talon wore a smirk that no longer reached his eyes. Selene lingered only to give Caelus one final glance—confusion and disgust buried under a polished expression.

Alia Crest was last.

As she passed Elaris, still seated and unmoving, she leaned in just slightly. Her fingers fiddled with the flower-shaped pendant hanging at her throat.

"You may want to ask him why he looked like he meant it."

Then she left.

Elaris didn’t get up.

She watched Caelus disappear into the shadows of the estate’s main hall, swallowed whole by towering doors and silence.

She didn’t know if what settled in her chest was fear… or something worse.

But one thing was clear:

Even when stronger—

She still couldn’t stand against him.