Serena wasn't the type to get distracted easily.
Not anymore.
She had made her choice the moment she opened her eyes in this second life: revenge.
Every step she'd taken since then had been for one reason — to make Clara suffer the way she had suffered.
But Ellion…
He was a complication. An unpredictable one.
And Serena hated what he made her feel.
The black feather hadn't disappeared. She had tucked it into a journal, pressed between pages like a secret.
His note sat in her drawer.
She read it more times than she'd admit.
"Let's see who wins."
It echoed in her head every time she plotted her next move.
The next morning, Evelyn barged into her dorm.
"You have got to get ready," she announced, throwing a jacket at Serena.
"For what?"
"Aaron's coming. He's joining us for coffee. He asked about you."
Serena's hands paused.
Aaron.
The man she had once loved — and the man Clara would eventually steal.
This time, she wouldn't be the passive, sickly girl left behind. She'd use his feelings to break Clara's heart in the same way hers had been shattered.
Let her cousin taste what betrayal felt like.
"I'll be ready in five," Serena said coldly.
The coffee shop was busy, full of laughter and warm conversation. Serena wore a cream blouse and a simple gold chain — understated but striking.
Aaron was already there, sitting with his usual confidence, dressed in his university blazer. His smile faltered slightly when he saw her.
"Serena," he said, standing.
She tilted her head. "You remember me?"
"Of course. You disappeared for a while."
"I've been… working."
Aaron studied her face a moment longer than necessary. "You look different. Sharper."
Serena smiled. "You haven't changed."
"Should I take that as a compliment?"
"Take it however you want."
He chuckled, amused. "Alright, mystery girl."
As they sat down, Serena began weaving her web. She laughed when she needed to, nodded when he spoke, tilted her eyes downward to feign shyness.
Aaron was hooked.
She could feel it.
She would give him just enough of herself — not her heart, never again — just enough to lure him away from Clara.
But later that night, Serena stood in front of her bathroom mirror, brushing her hair, when the air behind her shifted.
"I saw that," a voice murmured.
She didn't flinch.
"Ellion," she said, meeting his eyes in the mirror.
He leaned casually against the wall like he belonged there — like he'd always belonged.
"That little act with Aaron… convincing," he said, voice silken with amusement. "Almost charming."
"I don't need your commentary."
"Oh, I think you do," he said, stepping closer. The room felt colder, but Serena's skin burned.
"He's not the one you want."
"I don't want him," she snapped.
"I'm using him."
"And when he falls for you again?"
"He already is."
Ellion laughed lowly, a deep, resonant sound. "Then what? When Clara sees it? When she breaks? Will you be satisfied?"
"Yes," Serena said.
But her voice wavered.
Ellion's gaze sharpened. "You say this is about revenge. But something in you still hurts."
She turned away. "Of course it does. I died with that pain."
"You think you can kill it by making others bleed? "
She whirled around to face him. "Don't act like you understand me."
He stepped close enough that she could feel the press of his energy against her chest.
"Oh, I do ," he whispered. "You think I brought you back for justice? For redemption?"
"Didn't you?"
Ellion smiled — not cruelly, but like a secret being unwrapped.
"I brought you back because I was curious what you'd become."
Her breath caught.
"What are you, Ellion?"
His voice dropped low, like thunder on the edge of a storm.
"I am what listens when no one else hears. What answers when gods turn away. I am what watches the broken try to make themselves whole… and sometimes," he said, eyes gleaming with something she couldn't name," I fall for them."
Serena's heart pounded
He reached out, gently brushing his fingers down her arm — and just like that, the mirror behind her cracked.
A jagged spiderweb of lines bloomed across the glass.
She gasped and turned — but Ellion was gone.
Only his voice remained, echoing like wind in her ears:
"Be careful, Serena. Revenge changes everything — even you."
" But…I wiil not get distracted. NEVER! "