Page 220 of Owned

Silence.

Lucian’s pale eyes gleamed with appreciation as he stepped back. He swept his cape from his shoulders and threw it onto the stone floor before he began to unbutton his shirt. “By all means. I enjoy watching.”

I forced myself not to see Lucian’s sons in his movements.

Titus moved like his father—Bastian’s pale eyes were too much like his—

My fingers moved to the intricate fastenings of the black wedding gown, each movement calculated to bring me closer to the dagger concealed within the lace at the waist.

It was small but wickedly sharp, a sliver of blackened silver that belonged in the grimoire’s spine—how much magical blood had it shed in the centuries since it had been crafted? How many dark Sages had watched their life pour out onto its pages only to gain nothing from the cryptic spells within?

I could feel the entity’s malevolent energy pulsing in time with my heartbeat, as if it too thirsted for Lucian’s blood.

“The gown— do you like it?” Lucian asked. “I know it is not usual for a groom to choose his bride’s wedding gown. But I couldn’t resist.”

“You’ve tried so hard to deny your darkness, Avril…” Lucian said thoughtfully, “but it seems I was correct in choosing it.”

“Perhaps I’m no longer denying it,” my father replied, and I gritted my teeth as he allowed a seductive smile to curve my lips and forced my legs to move, carrying me toward the bed.

“You’ve been very secretive,” he continued.

My palm pressed against my hip and found the hidden pocket where the dagger rested. Its hilt was smooth and cold against my fingers.

“Have I?”

With a movement disguised as adjusting the lace, my father guided my hand to extract the weapon.

“Did you think I wouldn’t sense it—my sons aren’t particularly subtle when it comes to their conquests. I am sorry, my dear. I had hoped to keep them away from you… To preserve that precious innocence.”

“Fuck you,” I screamed into the darkness.

The entity didn’t flinch and I felt the weight of the dagger’s hilt in my palm, so slight yet so significant, before my arm moved and slipped it beneath the coverlet at the edge of the bed.

Lucian was too focused on removing his shirt to notice my movements.

“I’ve allowed you tobelieveyou had control,” he said casually. “The blood bond… A simple ritual. They were fools to allow you to execute it. But we both know that it was a weak attempt. They’ve been conspiring against you for weeks…”

Anger rippled through me, but a hollow ache followed. “It’s not true—”

“Don’t listen to him,” the entity murmured in my ear. A strange comfort. “Patience.”

Lucian’s pale torso shone like carved marble in the candlelight—hard muscles and lean lines. If he wasn’t such a monster, I might have found him beautiful. But he disgusted me, and every inch of my body recoiled from him.

The black stains that marked his fingers twisted over his skin like shadows and extended up his arms in dark tendrils that almost mimicked Valen’s elegant tattoos. But this wasn’t art. This was evidence of the dark magic that had corrupted him.

“The lives he has taken to acquire those marks—” the entity murmured bitterly.

“You see what power has given me?” he asked as he suddenly noticed my gaze. “This is the mark of true mastery, my dear. Thesacrificethat comes with ultimate control.”

“Sacrifice,” the entity hissed.

“It’s beautiful,” my father said with my voice as my hands continued their work on the gown. Smooth and seductive. Reassuring. Even fawning. If I could have thrown up, I would have.

The black lace of the wedding dress slithered down my body and pooled at my feet like spilled ink.

I stood before him in nothing but the delicate undergarments that had been selected for this night—undergarmentshehad selected. I felt vulnerable, but also strangely powerful.

The dagger was within reach now.

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