Heiress Unmasked: Shaking the World With Geomancy novel Chapter 2245

Though she had given Benjamin and the others the illusion of choice, in the end, the decision was hers alone. If she refused to leave, Shannon would never awaken again.

Adam's face darkened at those words, but Hector remained composed. He met Elowen's gaze without flinching, his voice as calm and warm as ever.

"I'm not. Because if they were here, they'd want you to enjoy yourself, to feel free and at ease."

He didn't say who he meant. It could mean Shannon, or it could mean Lucan.

Though Elowen had never been fond of humans, she could read hearts with ease. And in Hector's eyes, she saw the truth; he meant every word.

He knew everything, yet there wasn't the slightest trace of resentment or rejection in him toward her, despite the fact that she now inhabited his sister's body.

Something shifted within her.

When Elowen looked at Hector again, the casual indifference in her gaze softened, replaced by a quiet sense of closeness, as if she had drawn him gently into the bounds of her inner world.

Gazing at him, she muttered, "Having a brother doesn't seem so bad after all."

Hector had always been quick to catch subtle shifts in tone. With a warm, agreeable smile, he replied, "While you're here under the Jensens' roof, you can see me as your brother."

Adam, though sensing something unusual, knew Hector never spoke without purpose. After a pause, he followed suit, offering gently, "You, too, can see me and Thalia as your parents."

Elowen lifted her eyes and cast Adam a glance—wordless, but sharp as a blade of wind. She didn't say anything, but that one look expressed it all, "You? My father? Bold of you to dream."

…

This brief commotion on the Jensen family side soon quieted down, while elsewhere, Thalia was still locked in a fierce debate with the Wynthorpe clan elders.

Without sparing them another glance, she turned to face the one person she hadn't yet challenged. Locking eyes with Louise, she simply asked, "Mother, can you help her or not?"

She could stand defiant before the clan, but she was terrified to face Louise, whose relationship with her had once cracked and mended.

She was terrified of being rejected; terrified that, like the others, she would choose power over blood; terrified she would once again abandon Shannon.

Louise could see the fear behind Thalia's composure, and her heart ached slightly.

As the Ruler of Foxes, she had made countless decisions for the sake of the clan, but… not this time. This time, she chose not as the ruler, but as a mother and a grandmother.

More importantly, she didn't want to disappoint Thalia again.

"I'll come with you to Seastone… to meet Lady Elowen."