Chapter 1516: The Weight of Shadows

The days following Elara's unexpected return were filled with a mixture of disbelief and cautious hope. Aiden, still reeling from the encounter, found it difficult to reconcile the woman standing before him with the memory of the Elara he had lost. She was both the same and different—her eyes held the same sharpness, the same underlying warmth, but there was something in her demeanor that spoke of time passed, of pain endured, and of a distance that couldn't be bridged by mere words.

As much as he wanted to embrace the person who had once been his closest companion, the part of him that had buried her death, the part of him that had learned to live without her, resisted the impulse. He couldn't help but wonder: Was this truly her, or was it something else, something that wore her face but carried the weight of something far darker?