His new stepsister His biggest threat (Claire and Elijah) novel Chapter 255

Chapter 255

7

A % 77%u

156 vouchers

Claire’s PPV

The sun didn’t rise on Friday morning so much as it bled through the mist, a bruised purple light that offered no warmth. At precisely 7:45 AM, the silence of the North Ridge was shattered by the rhythmic, heavy thumping of rotor blades.

Three sleck, obsidian-black helicopters-unmarked but unmistakable in their predatory design-cut through the fog like sharks through dark water.

They didn’t land on the grass; they hovered just inches above the manicured lawn of the Hale Manor, the downdraft flattening the ancient pines and whipping up a storm of dead needles and frost.

Inside the Great Hall, the atmosphere was suffocating. Silas stoo by the hearth, leaning heavily on his silver-headed cane, his face a mask of stone. Ethan stood to his left, arms crossed, his gaze fixed on the front doors.

I was standing between Elijah and the towering mahogany table dressed in a plain, oversized school hoodie and jeans.

I looked exactly like what Valerius had ordered: a tired, slightly overwhelmed teenager. But underneath the cotton, my skin was crawling.

“Remember,” Elijah whispered, his hand brushing mine for a split second-a final spark of grounding before the storm hit. “Phase-Lock. Keep the mountain out. Keep me in.”

68 bpm. My heart felt sluggish, artificial. I was holding the thread of the Great Well in a mental fist, squeezing it until it was nothing but a dull, distant hum.

The heavy double doors swung open.

A phalanx of Sentinels in full ceremonial silver-and-grey tactical gear entered first, forming a corridor. Then came the Regency.

There were three of them, dressed in flowing, high-collared charcoal robes that looked like they belonged in a courtroom from a century ago.

At the center was High Proctor Vane—a woman with hair the color of bone and eyes that seemed to be made of polished obsidian.

Marcus Valerius followed a respectful three paces behind them, His face a perfect, subservient blank.

“Ethan Hale,” Vane said, her voice echoing with a natural resonance that felt like it was vibrating in my very teeth. “The Regency has received your reports regarding the… technical instabilities of your territory. We are here to verify the health of the North and the status of the ‘Anchor’ variable.”

“The North is stable, Proctor,” Ethan replied, his voice a low rumble. “The ‘instabilities’ were the result of outside interference, as my logs have shown.”

Vane ignored him, her gaze sliding across the room until it locked onto me.

I felt a cold shiver go down my spine. It wasn’t just a look; it was probe. I felt a phantom pressure against the mental dam I had built.

“And this is the girl,” Vane murmured, stepping forward. The Sentinels moved with her, a synchronized wall of silver. “Claire. The one who survived the Reed heart. The one who supposedly stabilized the Hearth Well with a single touch.”

“I just did what I had to do,” I said, my voice small, practiced. “I didn’t really know what was happening. It just… felt like the ground was shaking, and I wanted it to stop.”

1/3

10:07 Mon, Jan 26

Chapter 255

Marcus flickered a glance at me-a warning? A test? I couldn’t tell

3.77%8

EX 55 vouchers

“A modest answer,” Vane said, reaching into the folds of her robe She pulled out a device that made the air in the room turn

brittle.

It was a Regency Testing Crystal, encased in a delicate silver lattige. It glowed with a pale, neutral light, but I knew what it was: a lie detector for the soul.

“Come here, child, Vane commanded.

Elijah stiffened beside me. I could feel his wolf rising, the low growl vibrating in his chest, but he kept his feet planted. He knew that any move now would be a death sentence for the pack

I walked forward, my sneakers squeaking on the polished wood. Every eye in the room was on me. My heart tried to gallop, to reach out for the comforting roar of the Great Well, but I clamped down. Focus on Elijah.

The quiet morning. The smell of pine and old books. Focus on the boy, not the mountain.

72 bpm.

Vane held the crystal just inches from my chest.

“This device measures the resonance between a human vessel and the planetary ley lines. If you are truly an Anchor, the crystal will turn deep amber, reflecting the frequency of the Peak. If you are merely a conduit of residual energy… it will stay

clear.”

She pressed the cold silver lattice against the fabric of my hoodi, right over my heart.

The room went deathly silent. I could hear the ticking of the grandfather clock in the hall. I could hear Marcus’s shallow breathing.

The crystal began to glow. A faint, wispy white light swirled inside the stone, like trapped smoke. It flickered, pulsed once, and then stayed a dull, milky translucent.

“Clear,” Vane whispered, her brow furrowing.

She pressed harder, the metal edges digging into my skin. “There is no Phase-Lock. No deep resonance. She carries a charge, yes-residual energy from the transplant-but she is not a Prime Anchor.”

I saw Marcus exhale a breath he had been holding for a lifetime.

“As we told you in the reports, Proctor,” Ethan said, his voice dripping with icy satisfaction.

“The girl is a miracle of medicine, not a weapon of the Wells. The surge at the school was a result of the pressure build-up from the Council’s faulty siphons. She was merely caught in the crossfire.”

Vane withdrew the crystal, looking at it with deep suspicion. She turned to Marcus. “You claimed she leveled three Sentinels with a kinetic wave.”

Marcus stepped forward, his head bowed. “The report was based on the testimony of the injured men, Proctor. In the heat of a mana-flare, perceptions are often… exaggerated. It appears the explosion was, as the Hales suggest, a technical failure of

the containment canisters.”

Vane looked back at me, her eyes narrowing.

For a moment, I thought she was going to see through it. I felt the Great Well screaming at the back of my mind, a tectonic roar that wanted to shatter the windows and proclaim its owner.

I gripped the edge of my hoodie, my knuckles white, and pictured Elijah’s face.

2/3

10:07 Mon, Jan 26 GB

Chapter 255

75 bpm.

77%8

855 vouchers

“Very well,” Vane said, her voice tiglit. “The audit will continue though the weekend to verify the environmental seals, but the ‘Anchor’ will be dismissed from further testing. She is to be considered a non-combatant civilian

“Thank you, Proctor,” Silas said, stepping forward to offer a form bow that looked like it pained his pride to perform.

The Regency began to turn, their robes sweeping the floor as they moved toward the dining hall for the formal review of the border maps. Marcus lingered for a second, catching my eye.

There was no warmth there-just the cold, calculating look of a man who knew he had just bought himself a few more days of life.

As the doors closed behind them, the tension in the room snapped like a violin string.

I staggered back, my knees hitting the floor.

The mental dam broke, and the mountain’s energy rushed back into me with the force of a tidal wave.

I gasped, my lungs burning, as the golden light flared behind my eyes.

Elijah was on the floor with me in an instant, his arms wrapping around me, his forehead pressed against mine. “You did it,” he breathed, his voice ragged. “Claire, you actually did it.”

“I think I’m going to be sick,” I whispered, clutching his shoulders. 110 bpm. 120 bpm.

My heart was making up for lost time, thudding so hard it felt like it was trying to break out of my chest.

“Deep breaths,” Elijah commanded, grounding me. “The lie held. They think you’re nothing. They think we’re weak.”

“Which is exactly what we need them to think,” Silas said, walking over to us.

He looked down at me, and for the first time, I saw a flicker of something that looked like genuine respect in the old wolf’s eyes. “You played the lamb very well, girl. But don’t get comfortable. Vane is a predator. She’ll be looking for a slip-up all weekend.”

I looked up at Ethan, who was watching the closed doors with a haunted expression. “What now?”

“Now,” Ethan said, his voice grim, “we wait for them to leave the perimeter. Because the moment they’re gone, we have to move the Great Well’s core. If the South is this desperate, they won’t stop because a crystal stayed clear. They’ll just come back with a drill.”

I shivered, the cold of the mountain seeping into my bones despite the warmth of Elijah’s arms.

3/3

୦

AD

Comment