Versailles – November 11, 1937 – 3:10 AM
Claire stumbled backward as the mirror shattered completely, scattering glittering fragments across the floor like enchanted ice. Lorelei remained still, her hands lowered now, but her eyes... her eyes burned with something older than rage.
— "It was necessary," Lorelei said, her voice rough.
— "You broke the bond between the Keys."
Claire rose slowly.
— "Or I freed something you couldn't control anymore."
They both heard it — a pulsing sound coming from deep within the walls. The entire palace seemed to inhale, as if something long asleep had just awakened. The Veil was now… porous.
— "Did you hear that?" Claire whispered.
Lorelei nodded slowly.
— "Yes. And now time will try to fix what we've broken."
---
Paris – Rue des Martyrs – 3:15 AM
Madeleine unlocked the metal case hidden beneath the floorboards. Inside, aged pages, sealed with wax and symbols from the old Veil Council.
She handed the first to Émile.
— "This is the Record of the First Fracture," she said.
— "Year: 1891. Location: Prague. Three dead, one missing. Name of the survivor: Armand."
Émile frowned.
— "He was one of the first Guardians."
— "More than that," Madeleine replied.
— "He was the first to carry the Key without losing his mind."
Émile read the margin notes. One name was underlined: "La Rose Fracturée."
— "The Broken Rose."
— "Yes. The symbol of the rift between loyalty and truth. That's what Claire carries now."
— "And if she falls?"
Madeleine looked at the shattered mirror in the corner of the room.
— "Then the cycle repeats. And Paris will burn — from the inside out."
---
Versailles – Hall of Mirrors – 3:21 AM
Claire walked through the shards. Lorelei had vanished, as if the Veil itself had swallowed her whole. On the floor, where the mirror once stood, lay a single piece of old paper, folded four times.
She opened it.
"The Rose was never whole. It is choice. It always was."
Claire closed her eyes.
The Record had been broken.
And now... she was beginning to remember what she had never lived