Chapter 7 - The Unforgiven Oath
Julian looked up through a blinding haze of pain, shock, and humiliation, his eyes wide with a terrifying realization. The woman standing above him was not a victim to be intimidated or manipulated; she was a sovereign force who had merely been waiting for a reason to tear his world apart down to its very foundations.
Elena leaned down slightly, her voice dropping into a low, razor-sharp register that sliced through the silent hall like a steel blade:
"You will never touch her again."
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The threat was not a boast, nor was it delivered with emotional heat; it was a cold, binding decree. Julian flinched backward in sheer terror, dragging his body along the floor until his back pressed uselessly against the base of a marble pillar, unable to offer a single word of defiance. Elena held his desperate gaze for three agonizing seconds, ensuring the terror was permanently burned into his memory, before turning her back on him with complete, absolute indifference.
She walked back to where Lily was waiting, knelt down once more with effortless grace, and gently wiped the remaining tears from her daughter's cheeks with her thumbs.
