Aurelio couldn't move.
Luna's tiny body pressed against his chest, her heartbeat fluttering like hummingbird wings. The flicker of light on her palm had faded, but its memory clung to the room like smoke—thick, warm, and impossible to ignore.
Raven stood a few feet away, arms wrapped tightly around herself. Her lips parted, like she wanted to speak but couldn't form the words.
Aurelio finally looked up at her. "You knew."
She swallowed. "Not everything. Just… enough."
"How long?"
"Since she was born."
Luna stirred in his arms, eyelids fluttering. "It tickles when it glows," she mumbled, drowsy.
Aurelio's arms tightened protectively. "You're safe. You're always safe with me."
He didn't mean for the words to come out so broken. But they did—because in the space of a heartbeat, his life had tilted on its axis. His daughter held a piece of him he never knew existed, and the woman who kept it from him was the only one who had ever made him feel anything.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, eyes locked on Raven.
Her silence stretched, then snapped.
"Because I was seventeen. Because I was scared. Because your sister begged me not to, said you were in too deep with things I didn't understand." Her voice cracked. "And because I knew if I came back, I'd never be able to leave again."
Aurelio stood slowly, careful not to wake Luna. "You should've trusted me."
"I did. That's the problem."
Their eyes clashed—centuries of history in a single look. Hurt. Regret. Longing.
He turned away before she could see the storm brewing in his chest. "There's something wrong with me, isn't there?"
"No," she whispered. "There's something powerful in you."
Aurelio glanced at Luna, then at his own hand. "I felt it. When she touched me. It was like… something ignited inside me. It's not just her. It's in me too."
Raven walked up to him, resting her hand lightly on his back. "It's been dormant for generations. You were never meant to awaken it. But Luna… she's the catalyst."
He turned to face her, and for the first time in years, there was fear in his eyes. "What does this mean for her? For us?"
Before Raven could respond, the lights flickered overhead. The air thickened. Luna whimpered in her sleep.
Then the window shattered.
A gust of icy wind tore through the room. Aurelio spun, shielding Luna instinctively.
Raven reached for the hidden blade she always kept nearby, her pulse hammering. "They found us."
Aurelio's voice turned deadly calm. "Who?"
"The ones watching my investigation. The ones who knew about Luna before I told anyone. Aurelio… this is bigger than your empire. Bigger than both of us."
The glass crunched under boots outside. Shadows moved.
Aurelio handed Luna to Raven, his voice low and lethal. "Get her out. Now."
"What about you?"
He pulled a gun from the drawer beside the couch. "They came for my bloodline. They're about to learn exactly what that means."
And in his eyes, Raven saw it—the fire Luna had dreamed of.
The Santoro fire had awakened.