Page 21 of Owned

I stormed into the library, gasping, my breath and my hope torn to ragged shreds.

“You can’t let it happen—”

I clutched at the sides of the door, letting it take my weight.

My chest heaved like it had forgotten how to do its job.

Valen, Titus, and Bastin turned to look at me and my heart twisted to see the grim resignation on their faces—the guilt.

My mouth worked as if it had a mind of its own. “You can’t. You can’t let it happen. You won’t let this happen.Iwon’t let it happen. We can’t— I can’t—”

The word marriage didn’t fit what Lucian intended for me.

I wanted to collapse, but Valen was there before I even took a step.

He caught me in his arms, eyes soft with pity.

“Hush, little bird,” he murmured. “We know. It won’t happen—”

“Don’t lie to her,” Titus snapped as he rose from his chair.

His brothers—my stepbrothers—watched, waiting for the explosion.

Did they think I was a bomb about to go off, sending bits of myself in all directions?

Maybe I was.

My breath came in panicked bursts and I pushed away from Valen, who reluctantly released his hold on me.

“How could you let him do this?” The question clawed its way out of my throat.

“Nothing has happened yet,” Valen said. His voice was soft, and I wanted to believe him.

I wanted to believe that I could fix, reverse, or make this all disappear like a bad dream.

But my dreams haunted me now—they couldn’t just be blinked away.

I could still see the look of triumph in Lucian’s eyes, pale and pitiless, as he’d made the announcement.

Why? Why was this happening?

Any why couldn’t they stop it—

“Avril, listen to me,” Valen said, and he came close and gripped my shoulders tight. I focused on his eyes, dark and full of everything Lucian’s weren’t.

“We’ll figure it out,” he promised, and maybe he meant it.

But what could they do against Lucian? What could they do against the Council that bowed to him as if he were a god and not the evil entity he really was?

Maybe thatwashow they saw him—maybe thatwaswhy they worshipped him.

“After everything we—” My voice was a thin thread, unraveling fast. “You should have told me he was still planning to go through with it—”

“We didn’t know,” Titus said, cutting me off.

I hated that I knew he was telling the truth.

The magical bond between us was strung tight, and I could feel them straining against it.

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