Page 1 of Taken to the Shadow Realm

Iris

They were mad at me… again.

Mother and Father sat on the couch in front of me, both with a scowl on their faces, though Father’s was the more prominent one. It always was.

The air was tense, thick with the threat of my father’s boiling anger.

It spread out from them, painting the space in brilliant reds, orange, and yellows. They fanned out like wisps of smoke, curling and rising into the air until they dissipated almost entirely.

The colors would have been so pretty if I didn’t know what they meant.

When I was younger, I loved looking at them. Loved painting them. I would spend hours in my room trying to replicate what it looked like when emotions mixed, but I never could get it quite right.

“You have an obligation to this family,” Father pointed out. “I don’t have to remind you what happens when you can’t meet our expectations.”

I knew all too well what would happen if I didn’t become the perfect daughter he groomed me to be.

“I know, Father, I’m sorry,” I whispered, my eyes falling to my lap.

What I really wanted to say was, It’s not my fault the guy you set me up with wanted to get his pussy elsewhere.

I saw it coming. His aura told me everything his dodgy attitude didn’t. Late-night meetings had him coming home with a light pink aura telling me exactly what he had been doing at the office.

But I was willing to put up with it. For the sake of peace. For the sake of my family getting what they wanted.

He was the one who got bored with my lack of reaction. He could have just lived in the comfort of my father’s money. No one even told him he had to stop sleeping around.

I almost laughed at how annoyed he had gotten when he finally confessed, only to be met with my blank stare.

“This is the third one, Iris,” Mother said, her voice lowering as if she didn’t want the world to hear what an embarrassment I was. It’s okay, I wanted to say. Scream it loud for all to hear.

“I know,” I whispered.

“If you know, then you should have done better,” Father spat. “You’re bordering on twenty-seven, Iris. If you don’t give birth to the next heir, our line will end with your failure.”

I couldn’t help but wince at his words.

The next heir.

That was the contract all my husbands-to-be had to sign. They would get to marry me and be accepted into the McMillan family, but they had to give up their own family name, and any children would have to be raised as a McMillan.

Until my parents, the McMillan family had had a long line of successful financial investors with multiple sons who could continue expanding the family’s empire.

Except me. I was the single child of my father, much to his disappointment, and the only way he figured to continue the line was to sell me off like a breeding mare.

My own emotions started attacking me. Devouring me from the inside and threatening to make me break down in a fit of tears. For a long time, I had been able to keep myself in check—for both my sake and theirs.

But it was beginning to eat at me.

I never wanted this! I wanted to scream. I wanted to live a normal life! Go out! Make friends! Fall in love!

But I couldn’t. I had known that since I was born. This was my life, and there was no escaping it.

The only freedom I had was in my dreams. A pitiful reality that now only made the emotions swirling in me worse instead of the comfort they had once brought.

I counted back from ten in my mind, letting myself float away from it all. Letting the emotions fall into the background until they were nothing but a small buzzing in my ear.

Incessant, but bearable.

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