Chapter 1

I stood by the tall window, looking out at the manicured lawns of the Governor's estate. Three years. Three years I'd been Elara Vance, First Lady, wife to Governor Ethan Vance. Before that, I was Jiang Yu, a Keeper from Echoing Hollow, a place outsiders didn't understand.

Ethan won his election because of my people, because of me. We knew the hidden paths in the mountains, the secret ways to move supplies and his key supporters when he was wounded and desperate, hiding in our valley. He promised us protection, a better future. I believed him. I married him.

Then Veronica Hayes arrived.

She was the younger sister of Isabella, Ethan' s dead fiancée, the woman he still talked about like a saint. Veronica walked into our lives, and Ethan' s eyes changed. He looked at her, and I saw a hunger I hadn't seen since those early days in the Hollow.

Today, Veronica, now visibly pregnant with Ethan' s child, walked the grounds with him. They stopped by the Crimson Ash trees, a place Ethan and I once called special.

"The trees, Ethan," Veronica said, her voice carrying on the breeze. "They're not as vibrant as they should be."

She looked towards me, standing on the veranda. "Perhaps some things cast a shadow, darling."

Later, Ethan found me in our room. He didn't meet my eyes.

"Veronica is sensitive about the trees," he said. "She thinks... she feels a certain darkness."

I knew what he meant. My heritage. The Echoing Hollow Keepers, guardians of spirits, performers of last rites. Misunderstood. Feared.

The next day, my newborn son was gone from his cradle.

Panic seized me, cold and sharp. I ran through the mansion, calling his name, a name we hadn't even officially given him.

I found Veronica by the Crimson Ash trees. She was smiling, a serene, almost holy expression on her face. A small, freshly turned patch of earth was at the base of one tree.

"He's helping the trees, Elara," she said, her voice soft. "Their roots needed something pure, something innocent to draw from. His essence will make them bloom beautifully."

My blood ran cold. I couldn't breathe.

Ethan arrived then. He saw Veronica, saw the disturbed earth, saw my face.

He didn't comfort me. He didn't rage.

He looked at me, his face a mask of cold duty. "Veronica is Isabella's sister, Elara."

"What?" I whispered, the word a dry rasp.

"If it weren't for your people's unsettling ways scaring Isabella to death years ago, you'd never have been by my side," he stated, his voice flat. "This is what you owe her. Consider this a way to atone."

My son. My baby. An atonement.

The world tilted. The promises he made in the Hollow, his pleas for help, his declarations of love – all ash.

He turned to Veronica, his voice softening. "Are you alright, my dear?"

She leaned into him. "Much better now, Ethan. The air already feels cleaner."

I looked at the Crimson Ash, its leaves already seeming a deeper, more terrible red. My support, my love, my child, all sacrificed. This was not just betrayal, it was annihilation. My world was gone. Only a cold, hard knot of something new remained in its place.