Page 24 of Cursed

Valen looked down at the bouquet in his hand.

“They’re for my mother,” he said.

“Oh— Is she here? I didn’t—”

His expression didn’t change. “She’s dead,” he replied.

“I— Are you taking them…”Shit… what was I supposed to say?“Is she in the family tomb?”

I didn’t know what I was saying, and the words rushed out of me. I should have stayed quiet, but I couldn’t stop myself.

Valen’s expression shifted, but only for a moment. “No,” he said softly, “my mother is buried here. In the garden.”

I couldn’t help my gasp of surprised horror. “But— Why— wasn’t she—”

“Married to Lucian?” Valen snorted. “No. She wasn’t.” He paused and then his gaze sharpened. “Didn’t you know? I’m a bastard. Titus and Bastian like to remind me of it whenever they can.” His voice held a bitterness that wrapped around each word like barbed wire.

“You— you’re not like them,” I mumbled.

“Aren’t I?” he snarled. “Do you know what it’s like to be unwanted, sister?” he asked, his voice low, almost a whisper. “To wear the mark of your father’s disdain like a shroud? I am the shadow in a family of monsters—” His words sliced through the silence, raw and jagged.

My chest was tight, and I wanted to reach out and comfort him, but reminders of betrayal curled in my mind, tight as the thorns of the dark vines that snaked through the garden. “But you can choose—” I countered softly, my voice trembling slightly. “You could walk away from it all.”

“Walk away?” He laughed bitterly, and the sound echoed against the gnarled bark of the trees, sharp enough to send a shiver down my spine. “And leave my brothers to their designs? Leave them with this inheritance? No, I’m bound by blood, just as tightly as you are by fate.”

His vulnerability stirred something within me—a curiosity that threatened to unravel the threads of caution I had woven around my heart. I could see the lines of doubt etched on his face and the conflict that raged beneath the surface. What did it mean to be trapped by one’s lineage?

“Being unwanted…it must be lonely,” I murmured, not quite able to suppress the empathy tugging at my heartstrings. “But don’t you want more than this—”

“I earned my place here,” he snapped, “and I intend to keep it.”

The instant Valen stepped closer, any tenderness I felt vanished. The scent of the poisonous flowers filled my nostrils, and I brought my hand to my mouth to shield myself from the deadly blooms. Valen leaned in and his voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper.

“Tell me, sister, do you ever dream of vines?”

The words struck me like a bolt of lightning, seeping deep into my bones. My breath hitched, and all at once, the pale warmth of the sun disappeared behind a cloud, leaving only icy dread in its wake.How could he know about my dreams?

“Vines that bind, perhaps?” His expression shifted subtly, shifting from playful to something darker, more knowing.

“Stop,” I managed, the word escaping like a panicked gasp. I stumbled back as panic clawed at my throat. The memories of those suffocating tendrils wrapped around me in the night surged forward, vivid and terrifying.

“Avril, wait—”

But I couldn’t listen. The fragile connection I thought we’d had shattered like glass as fear surged through me, relentless and consuming. Without a second thought, I turned and ran.

“Come back!” Valen’s voice echoed behind me, tinged with something like desperation.

But I didn’t look back.

Valen’s words reverberated through my mind, a chilling echo of intimacy that I had never invited.How could he know?

Shadows stretched like grasping fingers, twisting and curling, just like the nightmares that haunted my sleep and panic clawed at my throat.

“Avril, wait—” His voice cut through the fear, but it was like a knife drawn against my skin, sharp and dangerous.

I couldn’t linger, not when every instinct screamed that I was being hunted.

The sound of crunching stones beneath my feet drummed a frantic rhythm, drowning out the echoes of Valen’s voice behind me.

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