"Was it really you?" Nathaniel was the first to step forward and hold Elliana’s shoulders, forcing her to look at him.
"It wasn’t me, but somehow my powers felt like..." Elliana paused. She didn’t know how to explain this feeling to him.
Luscious, who was standing at some distance, sighed and stepped ahead in his granddaughter’s defense.
"It wasn’t her, but me," he said, and Eros looked at his father in shock. He wasn’t the kind of person who indulged in anything or interrupted someone like that.
"It was you, Dad?" He asked, and Luscious nodded his head.
He explained to them how he had been trying to feel Elliana’s powers to know what was wrong with them and if the glow she felt was her conversably progressing. Because of the influence of his powers, when Elliana looked at Ari attacking those male witches and wanted to protect them, the traces of her powers that were inside him moved to her wishes.
That was the reason they felt it was Elliana who performed that.
"Her powers had the capacity to move you?" Azura asked, feeling surprised, and Luscious shrugged.
"I told you, she was the chosen one," he said before smiling at his granddaughter, who didn’t exactly have the best expression.
Ari, who heard the explanation, glared at Elliana. She was done acting soft with her.
"Must you always come between me and my target? This ugly habit of yours of poking your nose everywhere even when you are not wanted—when are you going to get rid of it?" Ari asked.
Elliana narrowed her eyes. She had been feeling negative vibes from Ari from the moment she came to their group when she was eating snacks. Still, she let go of the matter, thinking the girl was probably jealous because they weren’t indulging her or because their father was talking to her more than the birthday girl.
However, Ari definitely crossed a line here.
’What do you mean?" Elliana asked, still trying to ensure she realized her mistake.
"I mean exactly what you heard. I asked my mom to call you because I hoped Dad would come here, too. He came, but rather than coming and sitting with me, he has been doing nothing but following you around as if you are his only daughter and I am nothing. Yes, I was born out of wedlock, but is it my fault?" Ari raised her voice.
As soon as she did that, the elemental witches knew things were going to take an ugly turn, so they asked the other guests to leave immediately.
Elliana didn’t say anything. She just stood there, feeling pity for Ari. As disrespectful as the girl sounded, she could understand where she was coming from.
"First, it was coming between my dad and me, then becoming the center of attraction at the event that is supposed to be mine, and now you want to take the right of punishing my people from me? When will your greed for power stop, Elliana? Do you think I am a fool? I don’t see how you bask in glory when everyone bows to you. You enjoy it all, don’t you? You want to have dominance over everyone," Ari said.
Elliana sighed. She looked at the girl, her gaze shifting to Arizona as if mocking her raising manners.
"If you didn’t like my presence, you could’ve just said so, and I would have just asked my dad to come here. You didn’t need to make a fool out of yourself for that," Elliana said, clearly indicating that Ari’s outburst was only looking foolish to them and wasn’t a big deal.
Tears brimmed Ari’s eyes, and she looked at Elliana with a wronged expression.
"You are doing this deliberately. Even after knowing everything, you are provoking me. I dislike you, Elliana. I dislike you so much," Ari said.
Elliana nodded her head.
"The bigger truth hasn’t been spoken before," Elliana said, turning around to leave.
But Ari, who thought she was just mocking her, clenched her fists before unexpectedly she attacked Elliana.
"Freeze!" Ari snarled, and everyone widened their eyes.
Nathaniel, Eros, Azrael, and Azura immediately raised their hands to counter the attack, but someone beat them.
Sebastian, who had been on call since earlier, used his vampire speed and stepped before Elliana, taking the attack on himself. Since he was cursed, the magic didn’t work on him, but it was enough for Aris to look at him in shock.
Sebastian Marino? Elliana’s husband?
Did that mean the girl had gained her powers and was just acting pitifully in front of everyone to gain attention? Ari’s gaze darkened even more.
Elliana, who was surprised, placed her hand on her head, feeling a little dizzy as a sense of deja vu hit her head. She saw Sebastian shielding her.
She had experienced such feelings before, but this was the strongest one she had ever felt, and she nearly stumbled back.
"Bravco, Elliana. Bravo. Look at your world-class acting as you try to act pitiful before the elders when you have gotten your powers back already. Don’t tell me you still don’t remember your lover, Sebastian, the vampire king who vowed his love and -" Ari couldn’t complete her sentence when Arzona shouted at her daughter to interrupt her.
"Ari! Don’t!" Arizona shouted while everyone’s eyes widened.
"You!" Azura shouted in pure agony as she saw her daughter’s eyes widening.
Everyone watched in horror as blood started flowing out of Elliana’s ears.
Elliana stood there, shocked. She touched the side of her neck when she felt something flowing out. Seeing the red stain on her hand, she looked at her mother in utter surprise.
"Mom-" Elliana whispered before coughing blood.
Sebastian looked at the girl who was smiling earlier, bleeding like this out of the blue as if she was cursed or something.
’What’s happening to her?" Sebastian asked and was about to hold her when her body was suddenly thrown away from everyone.
Tears brimmed Eros’s eyes when he saw what happened.
Misha had warned them. She had told them that they were supposed to address their bond before them when they recognized things themselves. They were scared of this one thing, and it happened.
"If something happened to my daughter, I would kill you with my bare hands," Azura threatened Ari, who hid behind her mother, not at all expecting this kind of outcome. She had never thought something like this would happen.
"Take him away," Azrarel said, and before Sebastian could voice out his denial, Nathaniel used his teleportation to send him back to his black skull palace.
"Please don’t mind us, King Sebastian. There are some things that would be better if you stayed out of them," Nathaniel said. He was about to leave when Sebastian held his hand, panic and anxiousness gripping his heart.
"She will be alright, right?" he asked.
Nathaniel didn’t say anything, but since he didn’t want the man to interrupt them, he nodded before leaving.
Sebastian stood there with thousands of questions swirling in his head.
What he saw was not normal. What the hell was that? Wasn’t it supposed to be a normal birthday party? Sebastian placed his hand on his head, feeling a sudden pain.
That girl Ari definitely said something about him that caused everything, but why was he not able to remember what exactly was that?