Page 200 of Owned

Sharp.

Powerful.

Lucian’s chin lifted as he dragged his gaze away from me. Disappointment tightened his mouth. “My sons are late, as usual,” he said, and his smooth voice sliced through the murmur of the assembled guests.

There was a glint of irritation in his pale eyes, a predator annoyed at the delay of its meal. “But we shall not waste anymore time. The ceremony will begin without them.” He waved his hand dismissively, as if their absence were nothing but an afterthought.

A strange sense of calm swept over me with another gentle surge of magic as the entity stepped up to meet Lucian.

The Elder’s robes flowed like shadows across the floor as he approached.

The air shifted, charged with an energy that made my skin crawl. Lucian’s arm brushed against mine, but I barely felt it.

“Are you ready, my dear?” he murmured in a deceptively gentle tone. I couldn’t mistake the menace in his words.

The thinly veiled lust.

“The last time we stood in this room, among these guests, you became my stepdaughter,” he continued. “And now I will continue that protection with you as my bride.”

His words curled around me, tightening like a noose, and that unfamiliar rage swelled once more.

“And I am grateful,” the entity said in my voice.

“No!” I shouted uselessly.

My heart sank as the officiant began the incantations. His voice rose to fill the space, heavy with ancient power. Each word felt like a stone dropped into a well, rippling through me to crash against a stone wall.

The entity’s fingers, my fingers, gripped the bouquet tightly as dread coiled within me.

Even in my muffled state, I could sense the tension of the room. The strange energy of it.

“Be still,” Lucian murmured. His voice was low and commanding, and it sent a shiver down my spine.

The entity glanced up at him, and I sucked in a breath as his pale gaze fixed on me, unsettlingly calm.

Did he know?

Did he suspect?

“He knows nothing,” the voice hissed. “He sees nothing but himself and his own twisted desires. Be. Calm.”

As the officiant continued, my mind raced, desperate for an escape, but I was inescapably bound.

I had only wanted to protect Titus, Bastian, and Valen from witnessing this nightmare, but now I felt their absence like a phantom limb.

“Avril Velez,” the officiant called out. His voice echoed through the ballroom like a distant thunderclap. “Please join me in reciting your vows.”

“No, no, no,” I moaned.

But the words that came out of my mouth were spoken by the entity that possessed me.

Not me.

Her words were smooth and sure. Almost sensual.

I hated every single one.

An acolyte stepped forward, and a blade pressed against my collarbone. I felt the pressure, but not the sting of pain, as another gentle wash of magic swept through my consciousness.

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