The rain began shortly after midnight.
Soft at first.
Then steady.
By morning, Vale Manor was wrapped in gray skies and the quiet sound of rain against the windows.
Selina sat in the library with a cup of tea and several reports spread across the table.
She had been reading the same page for nearly ten minutes.
Not because the report was difficult.
Because her thoughts kept drifting elsewhere.
The conversation with Elara from a few nights ago lingered in her mind.
It had helped.
But it had also made her realize how much remained unsaid.
A knock interrupted her thoughts.
Before she could answer, the door opened.
Elara stepped inside.
Selina looked up.
"You know, people usually wait for permission."
Elara sat down across from her.
"That's rich coming from someone who spends half her time with Lucian Blackwood."
Selina nearly choked on her tea.
"That has nothing to do with this."
"It has everything to do with this."
For a moment, both women laughed.
The ease surprised them.
Because for years, conversations between them had been careful.
Measured.
Now they felt natural.
Elara's smile faded first.
She looked toward the rain-covered windows.
"Can we talk?"
The seriousness in her voice immediately caught Selina's attention.
"Of course."
A long silence followed.
Then Elara spoke.
"I wasn't avoiding you because I hated you."
Selina stayed quiet.
Listening.
"I know we already discussed some of this."
Elara folded her hands together.
"But I don't think I explained it properly."
The rain continued falling outside.
Steady.
Calm.
Elara stared at the table.
"That night changed everything."
Neither of them needed clarification.
They both knew which night.
The night beneath Blackthorn Estate.
The night the Core collapsed.
The night countless secrets came into the light.
Elara laughed softly.
A humorless sound.
"Everyone was doing something."
A pause.
"Father was trying to fix decades of mistakes."
"Lucian looked like he was carrying the weight of the world."
"Rowan was trying to understand what was happening."
"And you…"
She stopped.
Searching for the right words.
"You were in the center of all of it."
Selina remained silent.
Elara continued quietly.
"Afterward, everyone kept moving forward."
Her eyes lowered.
"I couldn't."
The admission hung heavily between them.
For years, Elara had always seemed composed.
Confident.
Capable.
Seeing this vulnerability felt strangely intimate.
"What happened?" Selina asked gently.
Elara smiled faintly.
"I went to my room."
A pause.
"Then I stayed there."
Selina frowned slightly.
"For how long?"
Elara looked embarrassed.
"Almost two weeks."
The answer stunned her.
"What?"
"I attended meetings when Father demanded it."
"I handled urgent matters."
"But the rest of the time…"
She looked away.
"I stayed in my room."
The image was difficult to picture.
Elara had always been active.
Social.
Visible.
Yet suddenly it made sense.
Her absence.
Her silence.
The distance.
Everything.
"I kept replaying that night."
Elara's voice lowered.
"The things we learned."
"The things I didn't know."
"The things I should have known."
Selina's expression softened.
"You couldn't have known."
"Maybe."
Elara laughed weakly.
"But that doesn't stop you from wondering."
The room fell silent.
Rain tapped softly against the windows.
Elara looked directly at her for the first time.
"Do you know what bothered me most?"
Selina shook her head.
Elara swallowed.
Then said quietly:
"I realized I never really saw you."
The words landed harder than either of them expected.
Because they were true.
Painfully true.
Elara continued.
"You lived in the same house."
"We attended the same events."
"We shared the same family."
A pause.
"And somehow I still didn't understand you."
Her eyes glistened slightly.
Not tears.
But close.
"I knew the version of you everyone talked about."
"The quiet daughter."
"The overlooked daughter."
"The invisible daughter."
Another pause.
"But I never asked who you actually were."
Selina looked down.
For years, hearing those words would have hurt.
Today they simply felt sad.
Because neither of them could change the past.
Only understand it.
Eventually Selina smiled softly.
"You weren't the only one."
Elara blinked.
"What?"
"I didn't really know you either."
The confession surprised both of them.
Selina leaned back in her chair.
"I thought you were perfect."
Elara immediately laughed.
A real laugh this time.
"Perfect?"
"That's how you looked."
"Selina."
"You did."
Elara shook her head.
"Trust me."
"I wasn't."
"Nobody is."
The simplicity of that truth settled comfortably between them.
For the next hour, they talked.
Really talked.
Not as rivals.
Not as daughters carrying family expectations.
Just sisters.
They talked about childhood memories.
School.
Their grandfather.
The strange habits Rowan still had.
The fact that Damian somehow became more intimidating whenever he tried to be supportive.
By the end of the conversation, both women were laughing.
Genuinely laughing.
The years of distance weren't gone.
But they felt smaller now.
Manageable.
Human.
Eventually Elara stood.
"So."
Selina immediately became suspicious.
"Why do I feel like that word is dangerous?"
"It probably is."
Elara smiled.
A very familiar smile.
The kind siblings used before causing trouble.
"What do you think Lucian would do if I started calling him brother-in-law?"
Selina stared.
"…Don't."
"I haven't even done it yet."
"Don't."
"It would be funny."
"It would not."
"It absolutely would."
Selina buried her face in her hands.
Elara looked delighted.
And for the first time in a very long time, the library felt filled with something simple.
Not tension.
Not regret.
Not old wounds.
Family.
Real family.
The kind built slowly.
One conversation at a time.