Chapter 6: [Selene Vael]
He turned slowly to Renold. "I want her."
Renold let out a quiet sigh, one that seemed to carry the weight of too many resigned mornings.
"Very well, Master. I will make the arrangements."
***
Far away..
The low hum of the magic train blended into the silence that pressed against Selene Vael’s chest.
She sat near the window, her breath fogging the glass as snow-laced scenery blurred past—frozen forests, hills she once knew, now hollow with distance.
Her wrists rested in her lap, manacles of faintly glowing silver etched with containment runes. A light enchantment. Enough to remind her that she was no longer free.
She hadn’t spoken since boarding.
The train moved from the glittering central capital—where she once walked the marble halls of Magic Academy—to the cold, quiet Western Province where her old home now stood tainted by scandal.
Her family’s estate, once respected, now whispered of with scorn.