"Good morning," Astoria De Vil said politely to Elias. It appeared he also woke up late since his hair was a mess, but she could always count on him to scramble something for breakfast. They were both sore since last night's battle, it seemed that Copper landed some nasty blows to Elias' jaw. She sat down, pouring herself some milk. "Milk?"

"No, I'm fine with tea." He raised the teacup to Astoria's glass of milk. Oh God, not this again, she chuckled. "First, a late afternoon toast to our beloved Lady of Dread, Astoria De Vil. Thanks to you, we successfully assassinated the remaining Council of Viscount members. Cheers, Tori."

She smiled softly. "A toast to my loyal second-in-command, Elias Lennox, without you, I would have never gotten here. Cheers, Eli." They clinked their drinks and downed them. "Okay, Elias, I figured out why Madam Sunna left me that poster, it had a secret message. The Book of Darkness is in the Silver Mountains.

"Holy shi–"

"Hold your horses, I've done some thinking, maybe it's not the best idea to retrieve the book right now. We just murdered the five remaining council members, maybe we should wait."

Elias held up his hands. "May I speak freely?"

"Of course."

"Bullshit." He crossed his arms. "Even if we committed mass murder last night, this is the perfect time to strike. Astoria, I know you like taking calculated risks, but sometimes, you just gotta' risk it."He noticed Astoria's discomfort. "Wait, how about you use that new power of yours? The Invisible Eye thingy that Madam Sunna taught you and we can decide after spying on the Heirs."

Astoria's dull gray eyes lit up. "God, I forgot about that!" Her Invisible Eye ability allowed her to tap into people's surroundings and she'd be completely invisible without them overhearing her. She never tried it since Sunna died, but this was a great time to test Elias' theory. They quickly gobbled up breakfast and ran to the throne room.

Let's see if I remember this part... Astoria closed her eyes and muttered a short chant that Madam Sunna forced her to memorize. She grabbed Elias' hand and shouted, "Into the eyes of Prince Thatcher Abernathy!"

Suddenly, the smell of ash hits her. When she opened her eyes, the duo were in the burnt Viscount Courtroom, it was just black furniture burned to a crisp. The Heirs were there, mourning and sniffling. Astoria's heart panned with remorse and pity, but she reminded herself that the Heirs were her enemies.

She noticed Celeste Laurier right away and Astoria grumbled unhappily. She was comforting a girl next to her, Nayleen Crest. She had a pale yellow dress with thin straps, standing out against her dark complexion and black afro with a golden hair wrap. "You were right, Elias, she is married." Astoria pointed to Nayleen's wedding ring and she looked around seventeen.

Next to Nayleen was an anxious ginger-haired boy. "That's Foxe Grendels, Nayleeen's husband," Elias explained. He had pale, freckled skin with vivid green eyes, and Astoria did have to admit he looked like a fox. He reached for Nayleen's hand and she grasped his. They both clearly have a strong relationship even if their marriage was planned by their families at a young age.

"I-I can't believe they just died here," Nayleen stuttered, breathing heavily. "They were killed, oh my gosh." Celeste wrestled her into a hug as Foxe crossed his arms, sighing. "We have to g-get justice for crying out loud, we can't sit idly—"

"We're not sitting idly, we're trying to grieve," an olive-skinned girl protested, wiping away her tears. Astoria was alarmed, rubbing her thigh self-consciously. This was Lord Vance's daughter, Zinnia Xing, engaged to Prince Thatcher. She had black hair with dyed blue tips to her ankles, sporting a navy gown. "But you're correct, we'll find justice soon enough."

Elias and Astoria exchange glances, eyeing the Heirs very closely. "Wait," Foxe said, "weren't Thatcher and Celeste outside the Viscount Courtroom? Describe the murderer to us."

Suddenly, Zinnia's head snapped around to face Thatcher. Thatcher, now that Astoria could see him clearly, had grown up tall and appeared stronger. "Wow, isn't he handsome?" She heard Elias make a strangled noise in the back of his throat. "Kidding, obviously. You're much more charming, Eli."

"Well?" Zinnia asked him.

"I...I think the killer was a girl who came from the Slums since I never saw her around the Viscount Kingdom. I heard rumours recently about someone called Astoria De Vil, known as the Lady of Dread. She's powerful and dangerous if she assassinated our parents." Damn right I am, Astoria almost laughed. "Do you guys know about the Darklings?"

Celeste gasped. "The Darklings? But weren't they exiled to Archemoros?"

"I think Astoria is trying to summon them by finding the Book of Darkness. By doing so, she'll unleash hell onto the Viscount Kingdom." There were gasps as Astoria's temper flared. Elias mouthed, Don't be rash, Tori. "She's heartless."

"I'm not!" Astoria yelled, but no one heard her. Right, the Invisible Eye makes you invisible. Elias stood next to her, gently placing his hand on her shoulder. She was fuming as the Heirs talked shit about her. "They don't know half of it."

"But I do and the rest of Valdor does."

But is that enough? Astoria bit back bitter words.

"Wait, you had a prophecy about your death?" Celeste asked worriedly. Astoria suddenly realized how she wasn't standing next to Nayleen or Foxe anymore but by Thatcher's side. They seemed to intimidate each other, despite his engagement to Zinnia Xing.

Zinnia was off to the side, she wasn't oblivious, if looks could kill, Celeste would be dead. Astoria wondered if she could start an alliance with Zinnia, young love always was a stab to the back.

"But I can change it according to Sunna Silvers," Thatcher reassured her. "'Alas, his fate lies within the place of viciousness.' I could change my fate, Celeste." Funny how Prince Thatcher chose to address Celeste instead of Zinnia, his future wife. "We'll start our journey to the Silver Mountains tomorrow at dawn, we'll have to travel through the Slums and into the mountains. I'll have a map drafted for us."

Elias turned to Astoria, offering his hand. "Is that enough for you to realize that we need to get to the Book of Darkness before the Heirs do?" When she nodded sourly, Astoria tapped out of her Invisible Eye.

They were back in the De Vil Manor's throne room and she wobbled, stumbling back. She insisted that she was fine and asked Elias to prepare for their trip to the Silver Mountains. I need to go to Paloma's to talk, Astoria rubbed her eyes.

She felt drained like how Madam Sunna must have felt, she didn't know if she should risk a shadow-travel to Paloma's. It'll be a quick visit, she convinced herself. Her house isn't even that far. She took a deep breath and Astoria was gone in a blink of an eye.