Revenge of the Resilient

ast that is what she told herself. Her empire flourished still, and with it, the respect and adoration she had so hard won. Yet, with all her succ

ver the city's skyline, her eyes squinting as the shimmering lights below seemed far away, almost hollow, the spitting image of someone else's life. S

man named Lysandra, who had once been as close to Elara as sister and brother can be, befo

t's about Adrian. Me

She thought that she had long put behind her that part of her life. She conside

ng through the door, she found Lysandra waiting at a table in the back with an anxious expression. She must have changed too

"I wouldn't have contacted you if it wasn't ser

seat across from her. "And why shou

one. Adrian got mixed up with some bad people. He's in a huge amount of debt - nothing that he's

lara asked, voice flat. "I have a

e connected to him. In this case, you don't even have to be connected, because

t the shake seep into her voice. "Bring it on," she

These people. they are dangerous, and they play by no rules. If you don't help

l of this and walk away. He didn't deserve her help. But another part of her, the part that had risen from the ashes of be

finally, her voice steady but resolu

her face. "Thanks. I will make s

rain was coming in rolls of foreboding like the darkness shadowed by the trouble in her life once more. She had lived long eno

fferent. It was no longer personal; it was survival. And she knew in this new

Elara silently made a promise inside herself: She had risen from

turned to her life, but this ti