Page 198 of Without a Trace
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I found her in the east wing.
Brielle was sitting like a fucking queen—legs crossed on a velvet chaise, reading something bound in cracked leather and wrapped in arrogance. She didn’t look surprised to see me.
“Took you long enough,” she said, not glancing up.
I walked straight to her and ripped the book from her hands.
“Tell me about the bond, surviving it.”
That got her attention.
Her eyes met mine—bright, sharp, and amused. “Ah. So Daddy dearest finally spilled some bloodline secrets?”
“Tell me. Now.”
She stepped closer. “It’s not just love, Scarlett. It’s not even obsession. It’s tethered magic. Woven before you were even born.”
“The Severance Knot,” I said.
Brielle smiled. “Yes.”
My throat tightened. “So it’s real.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” she purred. “It’s older than the Veil. Older than the Order. A power so old it got buried because no one could control it.”
I stepped back. “And now it’s tied to me?” I shook my head. “It wasn’t real until—”
“Until you sealed it,” she said, too sweetly. “Until you let both of them touch you. That’s what did it, you know. That’s what woke Thirelin up.”
“What the hell is Thirelin?” I asked, voice low.
Brielle’s smirk didn’t fade. “This manor. This place. The Red Veil’s sacred ground.”
“That’s not a name,” I said. “That’s something else.”
Her eyes glittered. “Because it is something else. Thirelin isn’t just a manor—it’s a relic, a grave, a living archive of the old magic. You think the walls breathe because you’re imagining it? They remember. They respond to power. To bloodlines. To you.”
I swallowed hard.
“The name comes from the original tongue—Thirelin means the buried thread. The place where the bond was first stitched into flesh. Where Elira made her choice. Where the magic cracked.”
I stared at her. “So I’m just reenacting history?”
“No,” she said, softer now. “You’re rewriting it.”
The air felt heavier.
“The Severance Knot is older than any of us,” she continued. “But this is the first time it’s happened across enemy bloodlines. Two heirs. One girl. One manor that remembers everything.”
I shook my head. “Why does it matter where it happens?”
Brielle stepped closer, her voice almost reverent. “Because Thirelin amplifies magic. It draws it out. It reveals what’s hidden—and what’s coming. It chose to wake now because you woke it. You stepped into this place, into your lineage, and the manor recognized you. It opened the next chapter.”
I looked around, at the stone walls and silver shadows, at the tapestry in my memory and the heat still pulsing in my hands.
The manor wasn’t just a house.
