Chapter 6 Broken Sapphire

Hearing Elena's demand, Violet panicked instantly, whining in Adrian's embrace.

"Dady, no! The silk dress and the jade bracelet belong to me now!" Violet cried out, stomping her foot like a petulant child. "I never had nice things growing up. How can I save face in front of my noble friends if those things are taken away from me?"

"I don't give a damn about your face, Violet!" Elena barked, forcing her bruised body up from the floor.

Marching toward the tall mahogany wardrobe, Elena yanked both doors open. Hanging inside was a dark blue silk dress, hand-sewn with delicate silver embroidery by her late mother during her final winter. Beneath it sat a carved rosewood box containing the Callum family's heirloom jade bracelet, cold and smooth against her fingertips.

Elena gathered the precious items against her chest, feeling a sharp pang of grief before spinning around to face her half-sister with a piercing glare.

"Now, take my mother's sapphire pendant off your neck," Elena demanded, her voice dropping into a dangerous, icy whisper.

"No!" Violet shrieked, clutching the blue gemstone tightly against her collarbone. "Dady gave it to me! This belongs to me now!"

Elena stepped forward, her hand shooting out to grab the thin silver chain. But Violet deliberately yanked backward with all her strength, twisting her neck violently until the delicate silver links snapped under the tension.

Clatter!

Eileen's blue sapphire pendant broke loose, tumbling through the air before hitting the hard marble floor. The fragile gemstone shattered on impact, scattering into sharp, jagged fragments across the dark stone.

"My mother's..." Elena gasped, her breath catching in her throat.

Elena stared down in absolute horror at the crushed blue shards. That pendant was the sacred token her mother had placed around her neck as a child, promising that the Moon Goddess would always watch over her. Now, it was destroyed, reduced to glittering dust beneath a thief's feet.

Fury burned away the last remnants of Elena's restraint. Without thinking, her hand lashed out through the air, striking Violet across the face with everything she had left.

Smack!

"Aaaakh! Dad!" Violet shrieked hysterically, dropping to the floor in dramatic tears, clutching her reddening cheek. "Dady, I truly didn't mean to! My hand was shaking from the boiling soup! She attacked me again!"

Seeing his favorite daughter struck right before his eyes, Adrian lost all control of his temper.

Smack!

A brutal slap struck Elena's cheek with thunderous force.

The raw physical power of an enraged Alpha threw Elena's weakened body sideways. She crashed violently onto the marble floor, her head snapping back against the stone. The corner of her lip split deeply, warm blood pooling in her mouth while a deafening ringing tore through her ears.

Absolute silence enveloped the bedroom.

Elena lay on the cold stone, slowly raising a trembling hand to touch her burning, swollen cheek. Wiping the blood from her chin, she looked up at the man standing over her.

"Dad, you hit me?" Elena whispered, her voice cracking with profound agony. "This is the first time you have ever struck me in my life."

Adrian froze in place. The middle-aged Alpha stared down at his own trembling palm, breathing heavily as reality struck him. A suffocating wave of guilt crushed his chest, reminding him that he had just struck the living image of his deceased wife. Yet his towering pride as a clan leader prevented him from uttering a single word of apology.

Clenching his fist tightly at his side, Adrian turned his back rigidly, refusing to look into his daughter's shattered eyes.

"Kael, take Violet to the medical room to treat her burns," Adrian commanded coldly, his voice strained. "Selene, prepare Elena's transport immediately."

Adrian walked out of the room in a hurry, practically fleeing the guilt that burned his soul. Kael gently wrapped an arm around Violet's waist, guiding the sobbing girl toward the doorway without sparing a single glance at Elena bleeding on the floor.

Yet as Kael stepped ahead into the hallway, Violet deliberately slowed her pace.

On the freezing marble floor, Elena was crawling on her hands and knees with ragged breaths, reaching out a trembling hand to gather the shattered pieces of her mother's sapphire.

Just as Elena's fingertips were about to touch the largest blue fragment.

Crunch!

The sharp heel of Violet's shoe stomped down hard onto the back of Elena's hand.

Violet ground her pointed heel down with all her body weight, grinding Elena's fingers into the sharp sapphire shards beneath. The jagged glass sliced deep into her flesh, tearing her skin open until dark red blood flooded the floor.

"Ugh!" Elena gasped, biting her lip until it bled to swallow the agonizing scream in her throat.

Violet slowly crouched beside Elena's powerless body. Her pretty face curved into a sweet, mocking smile, her voice dropping to a vicious whisper in Elena's ear.

"This sapphire is fragile, just like your mother and you," Violet whispered in pure, unrestrained malice. "You are nothing, Elena. Enjoy your new academy, dearest Sister."

Violet lifted her bloody heel, strutting out of the bedroom with a quiet, triumphant giggle.

Elena lay flat on the freezing floor, her body trembling with exhaustion. Her shredded palm throbbed with excruciating pain, yet her bloody fingers remained tightly clenched around one sharp sapphire fragment that dug deep into her skin.

Heavy, rhythmic footsteps echoed from the corridor outside. Selene stepped into the room, flanked by two towering guards wearing black unmarked tactical uniforms.

Selene looked down at Elena lying in her own blood, a wicked, victorious smirk spreading across her lips.

"Boarding academy?" Selene chuckled darkly, the sound like the hiss of a venomous serpent. "You foolish girl. Adrian truly believes you are being sent to a comfortable border villa to learn etiquette. But I already sold you for a handful of silver coins to the Black Collar Penal Camp!"

Selene waved a dismissive hand to the guards behind her. "Wrap this crippled trash up and throw her into the cargo van. Make sure she rots to death in the slave mines!"

The two guards grabbed Elena by her bruised collar, dragging her battered body across the floor. They pulled her down the back service stairs of House Veyrath, walking past several household servants who quickly lowered their heads in cowardly silence, not a single one daring to meet her eyes.

The back doors opened to a violent downpour. Cold rain lashed against Elena's face, washing the blood from her split lip down her neck as she was dragged across the muddy gravel.

Within her shredded, bleeding palm, Elena squeezed her mother's sapphire shard even tighter. Sharp edges pierced her flesh, yet the physical pain no longer mattered.

Elena forced her head up, looking toward the second-floor balcony of House Veyrath. Behind the rain-streaked glass, Selene and Violet stood side by side beneath the warm lights, waving down with mocking, triumphant smiles.

Elena's brown eyes turned completely cold and dark. All love, grief, and tears had vanished without a trace from her soul, leaving behind a bloody oath carved permanently into her human blood.

'Stomp on my hand today, Violet,' Elena swore in her mind with a hatred cold as the grave. 'Because when I return, I will snap your neck beneath the soles of my feet.'

Slam!

The heavy iron doors of the cargo van slammed shut and locked from the outside, carrying Elena into the raging storm toward the living hell of slavery.