Bullied No More: Rise of the Forgotten Heir

CHAPTER 5: THE DEAD DON’T STAY BURIED

“Say that again.”

Elias didn’t raise his voice. He couldn’t. It felt like his lungs were full of ice. Victor didn’t repeat himself. He didn’t have to. “The grave was opened,” Victor said. “The coffin was empty.”

Elias shook his head. “That’s not possible.”

They stood in a narrow chamber beneath Ledger Hall, stone walls humming faintly with sigils meant to block surveillance.

Tomas lay unconscious on a bench nearby, chest rising shallowly. The room smelled like ozone and blood. “She died,” Elias said. “I saw her funeral.”

“You saw a burial,” Victor corrected. “Not a death.”

Elias laughed once, sharp, broken. “You’re telling me my mother faked her death, erased my life, hid me from monsters, and then just… disappeared?”

Victor met his gaze. “I’m telling you she made enemies.”

Elias ran a hand through his hair. “So she’s alive?”

Victor hesitated. That hesitation did more damage than any answer. “You don’t know,” Elias said.

“No,” Victor admitted. “I don’t.”

Silence pressed in. “Who would take her?” Elias asked finally.

Victor exhaled slowly. “There are families who believe bloodlines should be harvested. Broken down. Repurposed.”

Elias’s stomach churned. “Like Julian.”

“Julian is proof of concept,” Victor said. “Not the architect.”

Elias leaned back against the wall. “So what now?”

Victor studied him. “Now, you are no longer a secret.”

“Was I ever?” Elias snapped. “Julian found me in a hallway.”

“That was chance,” Victor replied. “What happens next won’t be.”

A knock echoed through the chamber. Three sharp taps. Victor stiffened. “No one else knows this room.”

The door opened anyway. A woman stepped inside. Dark hair pulled tight. Slate-gray eyes. Dressed in a tailored coat that looked too sharp for a place like this. “Victor,” she said calmly. “You’re needed.”

Victor’s jaw tightened. “Seraphine.”

Elias straightened. “Who’s that?”

Seraphine’s gaze slid to him. “So that’s him.”

Elias bristled. “I have a name.”

“Yes,” she said. “For now.”

Victor stepped between them. “Why are you here?” Seraphine folded her hands. “The Council is convening.”

Victor scoffed. “They don’t convene. They conspire.”

“They’re frightened,” Seraphine replied. “Julian forced their hand.”

Elias frowned. “What council?”Seraphine turned to him. “The ones who decide which families survive upheaval.” 

“And you’re part of it?” Elias asked. She smiled faintly. “I advise it.”

Victor snapped, “You don’t get to test him.”

Seraphine raised an eyebrow. “That depends.”

She stepped closer to Elias. The air felt heavier around her, like gravity leaned her way. “Do you know why your mother was dangerous?” she asked him.

Elias clenched his fists. “Because she loved me?”

Seraphine’s smile faded. “Because she refused to choose.”

“Choose what?” Elias demanded.

“Control or extinction,” Seraphine said. “She wanted freedom. For you. For herself.”

Victor cut in, “Enough.”

Seraphine ignored him. “The Council believes her mistake can be corrected.”

Elias’s heart pounded. “You’re talking about me like I’m property.”

Seraphine met his eyes. “You are a variable.”

“That’s not an answer,” Elias said. “It’s the only one that matters.”

A bell echoed through the chamber, lower, slower than before. Victor swore under his breath. “They’re starting without me.”

Seraphine stepped back. “Bring the boy.”

Elias stiffened. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Victor hesitated. That hesitation again. Elias noticed. “You’re thinking about it,” Elias said. “You’re actually considering handing me over.”

Victor’s voice was quiet. “I’m considering keeping you alive.”

Seraphine said, “You don’t survive this city by standing alone.”

Elias laughed bitterly. “Funny. I’ve been doing that my whole lie.”

Victor closed his eyes briefly. Then opened them. “You need allies,” he said. “Real ones.”

“And if I say no?” Elias asked. Seraphine tilted her head. “Then the Council will decide for you.”

Elias looked at Tomas, still unconscious. Bound to him by choice. By consequence. “You said power watches,” Elias said slowly. “Does it listen?”

Victor frowned. “Sometimes.”

Elias straightened. “Then hear this.”

Seraphine’s eyes sharpened. “I’m done being moved,” Elias said. “If the Council wants me, they can ask.”

Victor hissed, “Elias”

Elias turned to Seraphine. “And if they try to take me?”

Seraphine studied him. “Then you’ll be declared hostile.”

“Good,” Elias said. “So will they.”

Silence. Then Seraphine laughed, soft, surprised. “You sound like her,” she said.

Elias froze. “You knew my mother.”

“Yes,” Seraphine replied. “I argued against her execution.”

Elias’s breath caught. “Execution?”

Victor went rigid. “That was never proven.”

Seraphine looked at him coolly. “It was proposed.”

Elias’s vision swam. “You were going to kill her?”

Victor said nothing. “That’s your secret?” Elias whispered. “That my family almost murdered my mother?”

Victor stepped forward. “I stopped it.”

“Did you?” Elias asked. “Or did she stop you by disappearing?”

Seraphine interjected, “This conversation is unproductive.”

Elias rounded on her. “You want me cooperative?”

“Yes.”

“Then tell me the truth.”

Seraphine hesitated, then said, “Your mother made a bargain.”

Victor snapped, “No.”

Elias’s heart slammed. “What bargain?”

Seraphine met his eyes. “Your life… for her disappearance.”

Elias staggered back. “She traded herself for me.”

Victor finally spoke. “She believed she could outmaneuver them.”

“And did she?” Elias asked. Seraphine’s silence was answer enough. Elias laughed, hollow. “So this whole thing? The hiding? The lies?”

“Bought you time,” Victor said. Elias’s voice shook. “Time for what?”

“For you to grow teeth,” Seraphine said.Elias looked between them. “And now?”

“Now,” Seraphine replied, “the debt is due.”

Elias straightened. “No,” he said.

Victor frowned. “What?”

“No more debts,” Elias said. “No more bargains made without me.”

Seraphine studied him. “You would challenge the Council?”

“Yes.”

Victor whispered, “Elias, that’s suicide.”

Elias met his gaze. “Then stand aside.”

A beat. Victor exhaled slowly. “If you do this… there’s no protection.”

Elias nodded. “I know.”

Seraphine smiled thinly. “Very well.”

She reached into her coat and produced a small, glowing seal.“The Council summons you,” she said. “Publicly.” 

Victor snapped, “You can’t” 

“I can,” Seraphine replied. “And I have.”

The seal flared. A ripple moved through the chamber, outward, upward, like a signal flare. Elias felt it. Felt eyes turning toward him. “Congratulations,” Seraphine said. “You’ve just declared yourself.”

Declared what? Elias almost asked. Almost. Then Tomas groaned. Everyone turned. Tomas sat up suddenly, eyes wide, voice strained. “Elias… they’re coming.”

Victor spun. “Who?”

Tomas swallowed. “The ones who took your mother.”

The lights went out. Darkness swallowed the chamber. And in the dark, a voice whispered Elias’s name, a voice he hadn’t heard in ten years. “Run.”