Page 27 of Cursed

Each flicker of movement felt like a taunt.

“Stop!” I shouted, frustration bubbling over as I flung my hands up to cover my ears to keep out the dark whispers that fluttered with the pages. But the words fell flat, swallowed by the heavy curtains and luxurious fabrics. Somehow, my legs moved, and I stepped closer, caught between terror and curiosity.

“Avril,” the symbols seemed to hiss. Each curve and line twisted like serpents poised to strike, “Come closer.”

I shook my head, fighting against the pull, yet my body betrayed me as I moved closer still.

The light from the window dimmed— I felt like a moth drawn to a flickering flame, knowing full well the danger yet unable to resist.

“Do you really believe you can escape this? Escape me?”

The question lingered in the air, heavy and mocking. I wanted to scream, to lash out against the malevolence that seeped from the grimoire, but all I could manage was a shaky breath as I stood in front of it—at the edge of an abyss.

I fell to my knees in front of the window seat and reached out with a trembling hand. The cold emanating from the grimoire seeped into my skin and curled around my fingers like a lover’s embrace.

“Your choice, pretty dove,”the Grimoire whispered. Its pages fluttered violently as my hand hovered over it.

“Stop it,” I murmured, but the words barely escaped my lips. My body seemed eager to surrender; I wanted to scurry away, yet a twisted part of me craved the secrets hidden within those pages—maybe it held secrets that could shatter the chains Lucian had wrapped around my life.

I ripped my gaze from the grimoire and forced myself to focus on the shadows that danced against the walls. Their shapes morphed into grotesque figures that curled and twisted, mocking my fear.

The shadows controlled this place.

Lucian.

Titus.

Thoughts of my stepbrothers slithered into my mind, their laughter sharp and taunting, always playing their games—what had Valen called them— Yes… theirdesigns. Each glance they exchanged, each secret smile shared over my head, felt like daggers aimed straight for my gut. Lucian’s control loomed like the dark clouds that wreathed the estate, suffocating and relentless, always hovering just out of reach yet impossibly close.

“Pathetic,”the shadows seemed to whisper.

Did they know what I had seen?

What I had felt?

Had they seen the way Valen’s eyes had burned into mine, and ignited a fire in my belly that both terrified and exhilarated me?

And if the shadows knew—did that mean Lucian knew? Did they obey his commands, too?

“Stop this!” I snapped, breaking the spell woven by the shadows—if only for a moment. But the grimoire’s whispers grew louder and wrapped around my mind like ivy strangling a tree. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block it out, but the words slithered through my defenses.

“Avril, your fate is bound to ours,”the grimoire seemed to murmur, low and menacing.“You cannot escape.”

The whispers clawed at my mind. I squeezed my eyes shut and snatched my hands back from the book and pressed them against my ears to drown them out. I bit down on my lip until I tasted iron. But the sound persisted and wrapped tightly around me to squeeze the breath from my lungs.

With deliberate slowness, the grimoire’s fluttering pages finally stilled— but the silence felt more oppressive than the noise.

I dared to open my eyes and my heart raced as I gasped for breath.

Tears streamed down my cheeks, but I couldn’t bear to wipe them away.

No escape.

Submit or succumb.

Hunt or be hunted.

Before I could process the depths of my despair, the grimoire slammed shut with a deafeningcrackthat echoed off the walls. I flinched and my throat tightened as the sound of a lock clicking into place filled the air—sharp and final. The strange glow I’d seen in the stones embedded in the grimoire’s cover had dimmed, and the book seemed lifeless once more.

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