Page 159 of Cursed

“Why?” I demanded. “Why are they difficult? We need to find a way to take Lucian down—”

“It’s not that simple,” Titus snarled. “We have to be cautious.”

“But we have an advantage now,” Valen said. “He won’t expect us to come at him together.”

“Valen’s right,” I said and forced myself to meet Titus’s icy glare. “We don’t have the luxury of time. We have to act. Now.”

Titus was silent for a moment as he assessed me, before he finally nodded. Bastian rolled his eyes but didn’t speak.

“Fine,” the eldest Romano brother said, his tone frigid.

Before anyone could say more, Bastian stiffened.

“What now?” Valen asked, clearly irritated at his brother’s antics.

“He’s back,” Bastian said flatly. “We have to— we have to go.”

He let out a growl of frustration, grabbed his jacket off the floor, and strode across the room to the door. He paused briefly to look back at me, and then wrenched the door open and swept out of the room. Valen gripped my hand and squeezed it briefly before he followed Bastian.

Only Titus and I remained. He stepped closer and his hand fell heavily on my hip.

“We’re bound together now,” he said, and his dark eyes held me captive. “By more than just magic—”

I wanted to pull away, but I couldn’t. The heat of his body pressed against mine was addictive—I craved him. All of them. The ornate carved handle of the grimoire’s dagger bit into my palm as my grip tightened.

“Are we?”

His other hand dragged down the side of my face and he pulled me closer. I thought he was going to kiss me—I wanted him to kiss me. His lips were inches from mine and I wanted desperately to be claimed— But he didn’t close the distance. His fingers tightened on my hip. “Don’t do anything reckless,” he growled.

“How could I?” I teased. “You’re leaving…”

He let out a grunt, and I tried not to smile as his cock twitched against my stomach. If I wanted him—I could have him. In a second.But not now.Without another word, he released me from his grip and strode across the room to the door.

He paused, but only for a moment. “Re-set these sigils,” he said and gestured to the burnt marks on the doorframe where I’d destroyed my own protective barrier. “You’re going to need them.”

The ominous hum of our blood vow reverberated through my veins and filled me with a strange energy.

I was barely dressed, and I should have been cold, but I wasn’t. I paced the room, stepping over the small pool of blood that had dripped onto the floor near the chaise. I’d clean it up later—or cover it with another rug.

The grimoire lay open on the vanity, and the blackened silver dagger was still in my hand. The blood-drawn symbols on the grimoire’s pages pulsated ominously in response to our recent ritual. But I hadn’t opened the book—and I hadn’t turned the pages.

“We did,”the grimoire whispered.“Your power is growing—”

I sank down into the vanity chair and set the dagger beside the grimoire. As I stared down at the ancient pages, an idea began to form—a wild idea that could either save us or destroy us utterly. But it might just be crazy enough to work.

I’d stolen power from my stepbrothers— And from Clara; why not steal Lucian’s?

As the idea flashed through me, the grimoire pulsed in response. Its dark hum filled my every nerve, and its presence scratched at my thoughts.

“I like this plan.”Its unsettling voice echoed inside my mind.

I felt a shudder ripple through me as the grimoire agreed with my twisted logic.

Fear gnawed at me as I considered what taking Lucian’s power could mean, and yet, there was a burning excitement within that threatened to consume my better judgement—wouldn’t it be a fitting revenge?

“Justice,”the grimoire hissed.

I stood abruptly and moved toward the thick window. The night outside was dark and foreboding and the ever-present storm clouds that crouched over the estate were fat with rain—

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