PROLOGUE
Hey reader
Thank you for picking up Echoes of Ashbourne... a story that lives somewhere between secrets and desire, between the masks we wear and the truths that burn beneath.
This isn’t just a tale about revenge. It’s about finding yourself in the ruins of loyalty, falling for someone you were never supposed to, and learning that love can be the most dangerous disguise of all.
If you enjoy dark-academia vibes, slow-burn tension, and forbidden chemistry... stay. Your support means the world: read, comment, share, and let me know what broke your heart or made it race.
Now… step inside Ashbourne Academy. Where every echo hides a truth.
They said Ashbourne Academy was a sanctuary for the gifted... marble halls, silver-lit towers, and sons of power learning how to rule the world.
For me, it was the place where my brother died.
Luca’s laughter still haunts the back of my mind... loud, reckless, alive... and then… nothing. Just a phone call, a closed casket, and a father who didn’t flinch. The police called it an accident. My father called it war. I called it murder.
That night, I cut my hair. The scissors trembled in my hand, but the girl in the mirror didn’t. She stared back with hollow eyes and a promise... if no one else would seek the truth, I would. Even if it meant burying Celeste Moretti and becoming someone else entirely.
Elias... The name fit like a mask- clean, sharp, believable. Beneath the oversized blazer and the low-pitched voice, I learned how to walk like my brother, talk like him, even breathe like I didn’t have anything left to lose.
Ashbourne’s gates opened with a groan, like they already knew what I’d done. I told myself I was ready. But when I met my roommate, Damian Vale.... the rival heir, the boy with winter eyes and a scar he never explained... my heartbeat betrayed me.
Every glance from him felt like a risk. Every word like a trap. He was dangerous in a way silence is before a storm.
And somewhere between suspicion and stolen glances, the walls started whispering again. About the night Luca died. About the headmaster who knew too much. About a secret that was never buried at all.
I came to Ashbourne to find my brother’s killer.
I didn’t expect to fall for the one person who could destroy me.
Now, every step I take echoes like his last breath. And I know... when the truth finally surfaces, it won’t just expose the murderer.
It’ll expose me.
