All Chapters of The Last Inheritance: Chapter 281
- Chapter 290
490 chapters
Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty-One
The morning air was sharp against Elias’s skin as he stepped out onto the balcony, the city sprawled beneath him in a mixture of stone and smoke, remnants of last night’s chaos still smoldering in the alleyways. He didn’t speak; he didn’t need to. The weight of the seal in his hand was a constant reminder of what had happened, of the power that now tethered him to the Ardent Heir. Seven days. Seven days to prepare, to understand, to survive.Rhea joined him silently, her presence steady, grounding. She rested her hands on the balcony railing, her eyes scanning the horizon with the sort of intensity Elias had come to rely on. “Do you think he’s telling the truth?” she asked finally, voice low. “About the second relic, about the destruction he promised?”Elias didn’t answer immediately. His mind replayed the way the Heir had moved, how he had struck and then vanished. There was a precision, a calm authority in his actions that Elias couldn’t ignore. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But I k
Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty-Two
Dawn broke over the city in pale streaks of light, brushing across rooftops and streets still slick from the early morning mist. Elias stood at the edge of the rooftop, coat fluttering lightly in the breeze, eyes fixed on the distant horizon. The weight of the seal in his hand was heavy, almost alive, pulsing with a quiet energy that seemed to anticipate the day ahead. Seven days. Six remained.Rhea climbed beside him, quiet as ever, her eyes scanning the streets below with an intensity that belied the early hour. “You didn’t sleep,” she observed, voice steady but tinged with concern.Elias shook his head. “Sleep won’t solve anything. We have to be ahead of him. One mistake and the Ardent Heir—or whatever he truly is—will exploit it.”Rhea’s gaze softened, but she didn’t argue. “We move then,” she said. “Information first. Action second.”Cassian joined them moments later, carrying a small satchel filled with supplies and weapons. His expression was tense, shoulders rigid. “I hate mor
Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty-Three
The hills were darker now, touched by the first shadows of night. Crickets hummed low in the brush, and a long, cool breeze slid between the trees, tugging at Elias’s coat as he pressed forward. The faint glow of the relic’s energy flickered against his ribs like a heartbeat out of sync with his own. Ahead, the ritual platform pulsed brighter than it had an hour ago, a quiet warning that time was collapsing around them faster than expected.Rhea crouched behind a cluster of rocks, her breath steady, eyes fixed on the encampment below. Cassian knelt beside her, scanning the area with a portable device patched to their internal network. His brows furrowed. “Their energy signatures are off the charts now,” he muttered. “Whatever they’re doing, they’re accelerating it.”“Which means we’re almost too late,” Elias whispered. “We move slow. No breaking formation. We stay within arm’s reach of one another. We get the readings, confirm the relic, then pull back.”Rhea nodded once. Cassian did
Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty-Four
The sky was still dark when Elias opened his eyes. Dawn hadn’t touched the horizon yet, but something in him refused to rest. The seal pulsed faintly against his chest, as if nudging him awake. He rolled out of bed, pulled on his jacket, and stepped into the hallway. The safe house was quiet except for the low hum of monitors and the soft static of communication feeds looping through the night.Rhea was already awake, sitting at the table with a mug of something steaming. She didn’t look surprised to see him.“You felt it too,” she said.Elias nodded. “It hasn’t stopped since last night.”Cassian emerged from the other side of the room, hair messy, a blanket still draped over his shoulders. “I didn’t sleep either. Every time I closed my eyes, that pulse hit harder.”Rhea gestured for Elias to sit. “The relic isn’t dormant anymore. The energy waves have spread far beyond the hills. I’ve been tracking the frequency. Every hour, its range doubles. If they activate it fully, it’ll reach t
Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty-Five
Elias stood at the edge of the rooftop, the wind tugging at his coat, tugging at his thoughts. The city below was quiet, but he knew better. Quiet was never safe. Not with Mara maneuvering, not with Victor still at large, and certainly not with the Heir now actively manipulating the relics. Every movement, every shadow could conceal a threat. Every second that passed was another step closer to disaster.He checked the seal beneath his coat. Its faint pulse matched the rhythm of his own heartbeat, steady but insistent, almost like a silent warning. He had felt its pull before, in the hills, during the attunement, but now it felt sharper, more urgent. It was calling him—demanding he act, demanding he move forward even when every instinct screamed caution.“Time is not waiting,” he muttered, mostly to himself. He glanced over the edge of the building, scanning the streets below for any unusual activity. Everything seemed normal. Too normal. That only heightened his suspicion.A soft beep
Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty-Six
Elias barely made it down the factory steps before the weight of everything he had just done pressed against his ribs. The morning light leaking over the horizon only made the exhaustion sharper, as if the city itself expected him to keep moving when all he wanted was a moment to breathe. But he didn’t get that luxury—he never did. Not with the Heir stirring. Not with Mara regrouping. Not with the relic still humming through his bloodstream like a second heartbeat.Cassian jogged up beside him, pushing damp hair out of his eyes. “Your pulse readings are all over the place,” he muttered, checking the device on his wrist. “The seal is reacting to something. Or someone.”Elias didn’t slow. “It’s the Heir. He’s trying to reestablish the link. The relic inside that room wasn’t the main focus—it was bait.”Cassian blinked. “Bait? For who? Us?”“For me,” Elias said quietly.They moved toward the abandoned loading dock where Rhea was kneeling beside one of the patrollers she had neutralized.
Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty-Seven
Elias woke before the alarms sounded.He didn’t remember falling asleep. One moment he’d been sitting on the edge of the cot in Lira’s underground safehouse, leaning forward to catch his breath, and the next his eyes had snapped open to the faint thrum of relic energy pulsing in the air like a warning. The room was dim—steel walls, low ceiling, maps scattered across a nearby desk—but something felt different. Sharper. More alert.He pushed himself upright, stretching the stiffness from his shoulders. The seal on his chest gave a slow, steady pulse, warm but not invasive. Nothing like the violent surge he fought the night before.Rhea was already awake, sitting across the room with her back against the wall. She had her knees drawn up and her arms draped loosely over them. Her eyes were half-open, studying him even before she spoke.“You didn’t sleep long,” she murmured.Elias ran a hand through his hair. “Didn’t feel like I needed to.”“Or couldn’t,” she said, reading him too easily.
Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty-Eight
The night pressed down on the manor like a held breath.Elias stayed awake long after the others slept. He sat in the armchair by the window, shoulders tense, jaw locked, staring at the dark line of trees beyond the estate wall. A storm was gathering out there—he could feel it in his bones. Every instinct told him something was moving closer.He rubbed his palms against his knees, grounding himself. Focus. Think.But his mind kept drifting to the same place: the way his mother had grabbed his face tonight, eyes wet, voice trembling as she whispered that she believed in him. That she trusted him to finish this fight.He wasn’t used to being someone people relied on. Not like this.A soft knock pulled him out of his thoughts.“Come in,” he said quietly.The door opened a crack and Ethan stepped in, hoodie half-zipped, hair sticking in every direction like he’d been dragging his hands through it for an hour.“You’re still awake,” he said, though it wasn’t a question. “I figured.”Elias r
Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty-Nine
The storm broke just before dawn.A low growl of thunder rolled across the estate grounds as Elias pushed open the front doors. Cold air rushed in, carrying the metallic smell of rain and damp earth. The morning sky was still dark, clouds layered thick like bruises. He stepped onto the stone steps, pulled his hood tighter, and scanned the perimeter.Guards were already moving—quiet, alert, unsettled.Good. They felt it too.Behind him, footsteps echoed lightly. Mara slid her hands into the pockets of her jacket and joined him under the overhang.“You didn’t sleep,” she said.“Did you?” Elias shot back.She snorted. “Barely. I kept hearing things.”Elias glanced sideways. “Things, or your paranoia?”“Both,” she admitted. “The weather makes the forest louder. And after everything that’s happened… yeah, I’m jumpy.”Elias didn’t tease her for it. He couldn’t. He understood too well.Mara looked at him fully now. “What’s our next move?”Elias exhaled, breath fogging in the air. “We gather
Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety
The rain didn’t let up the next morning. Thick sheets of it fell over the estate, drumming against the rooftops and blurring the tree line into a shifting smear of gray. Elias stepped out onto the veranda anyway, ignoring the cold splash of water against his boots as he surveyed the grounds.Everything was motion.Guards rotated faster. Spotters checked the ridges. Communication relays buzzed with short, clipped updates. It looked like a fortress preparing for siege, but Elias didn’t feel intimidated by the tension anymore. If anything, it sharpened him.This wasn’t fear.This was focus.Footsteps approached behind him. Mara arrived first, her jacket soaked from a patrol sweep, hair tied back tightly, eyes sharper than the wind biting across the yard.“You’re up early,” she said.Elias didn’t look away from the distance. “Couldn’t sleep.”“Because of the plan?”“Because of everything.”Mara tilted her head. “You want to go over it again?”“Not yet.” He turned, finally meeting her eyes