Page 133 of Cursed

My submission.

“You’re right,” I forced out. “I— I’ve been… foolish.”

His lips curved in response, a quirk that was both chilling and cruel. “Indeed. But what’s done is done.” He leaned forward once more. “What did the grimoire reveal to you?”

I shook my head, but the room seemed to shrink around us as I met his gaze once more.

“I— nothing… there was nothing. I tried— but I failed.” I let my voice trail away as I looked down at my feet. “I wasn’t strong enough.”

Would he see through my lies?

“Your reckless curiosity reminds me of your father,” he said. I looked up at those words. Although his voice was smooth and casual, an underlying menace filled it, and made my blood run cold. “He, too, thirsted for knowledge beyond his grasp... beyond his comprehension.” He allowed his words to linger in the air for a moment before adding, “And we both know how that ended.”

I couldn’t stop myself from flinching at his words—that was what he wanted.

He wanted to hurt me. To see me cower.

“I— I don’t want to be like my father,” I choked out.

“That gives me comfort, Avril,” Lucian said, and I dared to glance up at him. There was a peculiar gleam in his pale eyes, a cruel mockery of comfort. It chilled me to my very core and sent ice through my veins. “You’re not half the sorcerer your father was, and the grimoire took him—consumed him.”

His words struck me like an arrow through the heart. I reeled back as though physically struck, and the force of his barbed insult made me stumble.

Each beat of my heart was a rigid reminder of my inadequacy.

“I know,” I croaked out. My voice sounded weak and pitiful, even to my own ears. But what else could I say?

Lucian sighed and looked at me as though I were an especially disappointing puzzle he’d solved far too quickly.

“Look at you,” he murmured. “So eager to play with fire— but you are too flammable, my dear.”

He stood abruptly and loomed over me like a towering specter, his moonlit hair cascaded elegantly around his sharp features. The crimson light from the orb glowed ominously across one side of his face and defined every cold and unyielding line.

Beneath that ruthless scrutiny, I was insignificant. Small. A tiny bird under the paw of a lion.

He advanced with calculated predation. The air shifted with the oppressive weight of his presence.

“Lucian—” My voice barely escaped my lips, trembling with a mixture of apprehension and defiance. But he silenced me with a casual flick of his wrist, a gesture that was both dismissive and enthralling. The room closed in around us and shadows stretched and twisted toward me.

“Tell me, Avril,” he said, stopping just short of me, his breath brushing against my skin like ice. “What do you truly think of my sons?”

“I— I don’t think about them at all,” I choked out.

His chin tilted slightly. He lifted his hand and my eyes widened as the pale red smoke of his magic twined around his fingers—thick and lazy—before it wound through the air toward me and slid over my shoulder and across my collarbone. “Ah,” he murmured. His eyes closed as though he was able to touch my skin through the tendrils of his magic. “They were cruel to you—”

His question was a surprise and my pulse quickened and beat a frantic rhythm in my ears as I searched for words that wouldn’t betray me.

“I—” I hesitated. I could feel the warmth of my own magic simmering just beneath the surface, yearning to break free… but I couldn’t. He couldn’t know— “I don’t trust them,” I managed.

“Indeed— A wise choice. But, perhaps, an observation that should have come to you sooner—” He leaned closer and the scent of cedar and something darker enveloped me. My breath caught as the smoky tendrils of his power wrapped around my torso and tugged me gently toward him.

The world blurred, and the edges of reality seemed to bend to his will. I could feel the pull, the seductive temptation of his magic as it curled and tightened around me, beckoning me closer. A shiver ran down my spine, igniting a spark within me I didn’t want—

Revulsion and fear coiled together in my chest, and my own power flickered beneath the surface.

His long fingers flexed, and the invisible chains of his magic tightened and dragged me closer still.

Panic clawed at my throat; I fought against the pull, but I was helpless.

---