Aurora POV:
I waited on the balcony for two days.
The estate remained dark and quiet.
"What if they stay away?" Elara paced behind me, wringing her hands. "What if that bastard found something?"
"He won't," I said, keeping my voice steady. "Ethan's ego is too big to imagine he could ever be caught. He is enjoying the thrill of it all too much."
On the third evening, a carriage finally rolled through the gates of the Sawyer estate.
Ethan and Cassia stepped out.
They kissed at the door, Cassia clinging to him like a vine. Her movements were cheap and desperate, completely lacking the grace of a true noblewoman.
I watched them through the enchanted farsight-lens, my hand tightening on the mother-stone. I waited until they disappeared inside and the lights in the master bedroom flickered on.
"Showtime," I whispered.
I pushed a sliver of my will into the stone. Miles away, the Scrying Stone in the chandelier silently came to life, its single eye opening to witness everything.
The images and sounds flooded my mind.
I saw them shed their public personas. I heard their vile words.
"You are so much more fun than that cold Dragonless girl, Aurora," Ethan panted. "She is like a block of wood."
"Of course I am," Cassia laughed, a triumphant, ugly sound. "When I become the Lady of the Sawyer house, the first thing I will do is have her sent to some remote convent on the border."
They laughed about my family's decline. They planned how they would divide my dowry after I was cast aside.
Every word fueled the cold, hard hatred settling in my chest.
Beside me, Elara listened as I relayed the conversation, her body trembling with rage. "Scum. Absolute scum."
I recorded until I had more than enough clear, undeniable proof.
Then, I stopped the recording and transferred the contents into a larger, blank Memory Crystal. The crystal pulsed with a faint blue light, now containing a scandal powerful enough to ruin a family.
"I have the evidence," I told Elara. "Now we need a stage."
"The Sawyer's annual charity ball," she said instantly. "It is in three days at the Crimson Stag Hall. Every noble in the kingdom will be there."
"Exactly." I nodded. "I need you to get me access to the hall's illusion matrix."
The crystal display matrices in the Crimson Stag Hall were controlled by a complex network of Ancient Dragon Runes, usually used to display the royal crest or celebratory images.
"That is tricky," Elara said, chewing her lip. "The rune-chamber is guarded by Royal Drake Guards. I can get you in the back, but rewriting the rune sequence requires immense skill."
"Just get me in the room," I interrupted, my fingertips tingling with anticipation. "I will handle the rest."
Elara stared at me, her expression baffled. She couldn't understand where I, a supposedly powerless Dragonless woman, found such confidence.
I kept my silence. My small, secret knowledge of Ancient Dragon Runes was my greatest advantage.
The next night, Elara used her authority as a historian to escort me into the backstage area of the Crimson Stag Hall, under the guise of verifying historical records.
We slipped past the guards to the rune-chamber door. Elara placed a silencing charm on the magical alarm.
Inside, a massive stone dais dominated the center of the room, its surface covered in a dense web of glowing Ancient Dragon Runes.
I took a deep breath and laid my hand flat on the cool stone.
The runes flared to life. Light and power surged up my arm, bringing a familiar and exhilarating hum.
I closed my eyes, and the complex sequences of the illusion matrix appeared in my mind like a map. I found the primary command line and wove in a hidden backdoor, a trigger connected to another small runestone I held.
When I crushed that stone, the contents of the Memory Crystal would be broadcast on every illusion surface in the hall.
It took only a few minutes. When I lifted my hand, the light on the dais dimmed back to its normal, dormant glow.
We left as silently as we had come.
