Page 202 of Owned

With every word he spoke, I felt the chains of the wedding spell tighten around me, squeezing tighter with each breath.

My pulse quickened as I fought the urge to scream, caught between relief at their arrival and the gnawing fear that their defiance would lead them to ruin.

“She doesn’t belong to you,” Titus’s voice cracked with rage. His gaze burned with betrayal as he glared at Lucian, who responded with a chilling smile.

“Ah, but she already is.” Lucian’s pale eyes gleamed with triumph, and I could see the depths of his madness reflected back at me. “You should begrateful, truly! She will inherit a legacyfarricher than any of you could ever comprehend.”

“Legacy?” Valen spat the word like poison. “Do you really think you can control her with this?”

“Control?” Lucian chuckled, and the sound reverberated in the air like a predator’s growl. “I have merely guided her to her rightful place. This power is what shedeserves, what youalldeserve. But alas, I cannot allow you to interfere. My disappointment in you is… unexpected.”

“Stop,” the entity said with my voice.

She was calm. Detached.

Sensual.

Commanding.

“You’re too late,” the entity said, and I recoiled as they moved us closer to Lucian and laid a hand on his arm.

“What are youdoing?” I screamed, even though I knew the sound meant nothing.

My stepbrothers stared back at me, their faces etched with fury, yet beneath that rage lay a dawning realization—their power was impotent now, stifled by the binding spell that had been cast over them. But the entity was right. Even if they had been at their full power they couldn’t have broken what had been sealed in blood.

My blood.

“Avril!” Valen’s voice was desperate. His deep blue eyes were full of—confusion.

No. Not confusion. Betrayal.

Anguish.

He stepped forward, brow furrowed, but the weight of Lucian’s magic held him back like a physical barrier. “What have you done?”

I could see the hesitation flicker in Titus’s stance, his fists clenched at his sides, trembling with the need to fight, and yet understanding the futility of it all.

“What is it you think you would be saving her from?” Lucian’s voice dripped with disdain. “Shechosethis destiny. She came to mewillingly. As it must be. You’re simply too late.” He turned his pale gaze to me and his lips curled into a cruel smile that twisted my stomach into knots.

“Avril,” Bastian said. “Please, you don’t have to do this. We can find a way out—”

The entity shifted slightly, and as my shoulders straightened, my chin lifted.

“You’re too late,” the entity said with my voice. “The blood has been spilled.”

Tears stung my eyes and bathed my cheeks in hot shame. Meaningless. All of it. I’d asked them to trust me—but this wasn’t what I’d intended.

“Forgive me,” I sobbed. But they couldn’t hear me.

Valen’s eyes narrowed as he looked at me. Could he sense that something was wrong?

Lucian’s arm snaked around my waist and pulled me closer to him, and I gasped as another wave of magic swept through me.How long would it take before what was left of me washed away?

“You’re far too dramatic,” the voice murmured in my ear. “You should relax— you don’t have to experience any of this if you don’t want to. Just… close your eyes.”

“No!” I shouted back. “I won’t!”

Satisfaction radiated off Lucian, intoxicating and suffocating at once. Even through the cushion of the possession, I could feel it.

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