18. EIGHTEEN
EIGHTEEN
ILLUSIONAL
“ I promise the pain will leave your heart,” Seraphina said. “At first, it may seem unbearable, but even the deepest wounds eventually scar over.”
I turned to look at her, my eyes glistening with unshed tears. Suddenly, it all became painfully apparent. I wondered how I could have been so naive as to miss the clues revealed by the images on the tapestries and my so-called relationship with Donte.
Overcome by an indescribable weariness, I could only shake my head in disbelief.
“It’s you that Donte is meant to be with, isn’t it?” I asked. “It’s been staring me in the face all this time, but I never realised until now how you and the brothers have used me.”
Seraphina approached, her gaze steady. “Tilly, I understand your anger.
You feel betrayedbut you misunderstood.
None of this was aboutmanipulation. The curse that binds us is a force more powerful than you realize.
It has stolen so much from us. Breaking it is the only way we can return toour true essence.
“And you think stealing my life, my future, justifies your actions?”
“We should have told you from the beginning, but after the abduction, you were fragile. We didn’t want to shatter you completely. We were trying to protect you.”
“Liar!”
She reached her hand out toward me, but I backed away, anger rising. She had played her role well, gentle and concerned. Making me believe she was someone I could lean on. She was just as conniving as the others.
“Stay away from me! All of you! I know you’re watching somewhere. Just leave me alone!”
I slapped her hand away, and her calm mask faltered.
“You and Donte disgust me. All of you do!”
I surged toward her, but powerful arms pulled me back.
“Calm down, Tilly,” Cillian said, his composure too calm for the anger raging inside me. I pulled free, shaking with rage.
“I hate you! I hate you all!”
My mind churned. I wasn’t chosen for love or destiny. I was chosen because they saw me as weak.
Footsteps drew our attention and Torin and Fionn emerged from the woods. Fionn carried a beautiful gilt baroque mirror, its ornate design at odds with the tension in the air.
Fionn’s voice cut through the silence like a blade. “We wasted time doing things your way. Look what’s happened.”
He thrust the mirror toward Seraphina.
“No more delays. Show her.”
“This isn’t a good idea,” Seraphina warned.
“It’s necessary,” Fionn snapped. “She needs to see the truth, whether she wants to or not. ”
I folded my arms. “Show me what? More illusions? Why would I believe anything you show me?”
Fionn’s reactions hardened.
“Because this is the truth and you’re out of time for denial.”
Seraphina lowered her gaze
“This is the only way, you must see how I looked before the curse affected me.”
She lifted the mirror. I expected nothing more than my own exhausted reflection.
Instead, the glass shimmered and shifted with light rippling across its surface.
Her reflection was ethereal, porcelain skin with platinum curls falling past her waist, eyes like frost.
My skin prickled.
I looked at Seraphina beside me, older, haunted and then back at the impossible beauty in the mirror.
“Is this what you wanted?” I whispered. “To become this?”
Seraphina’s eyes glistened.
“This is how I once looked… before the ancient curseofVarethwithered my spirit.”
I stepped back, my heart pounding. The truth was undeniable.
“Now do you understand?” Fionn asked. “This isn’t a threat, Tilly. It’s a promise of what happens when you choose wrong. The mirror doesn’t lie.”
“No!” I shouted. “I control my own fate. You won’t force me into anything!”
Fionn’s thin smile chilled me.
“You still believe you have control? You don’t. The curse does not wait for mortal hesitation. If you refuse a choice, there is no freedom for you. Only Vareth’s madness… and then death.”
My breath hitched.
“I don’t believe you. ”
“You’re already cracking,” he said. “The confusion and the fear. It’s begun.”
“Stop,” I whispered, pressing my hands to my head.
“Look at me,” Fionn commanded. His gaze pinning me to the spot “Face the reality you’ve been running from. If you don’t choose soon, you’ll die. You’ll be trapped in this nightmare forever.”
“When the three moons complete their cycle and the blood moon of Elora ascends into the heavens, your time is up,” said Fionn.“Every ten years, Vareth marks and demands a soul, and this time, his stars have chosen yours.”
He stared deeply into my eyes. I looked for lies, for anger, for any flicker of human emotion, but I found none. Instead, I saw only a terrifying sincerity, as if he weren’t threatening me at all. He was simply stating a fact.
My stomach twisted. I felt an unwanted tremor in my hands. I forced them into fists at my sides. “If this is true. Then I’ll choose how it ends,” I said. “I’d rather die than live cursed.”
“Tilly, we don’t want this curse any more than you do,” Cillian said. “We’ve all suffered.”
“Who has that kind of power?”
“Vareth the God of Elora.” Cillian said his attention drawn to the sky.
The light shifted. Birds fell silent. The fountain stilled.
“Not again,” I whispered.
“We must leave,” Fionn said. He took Seraphina’s hand. “This conversation is over. You know what we must do.”
They stepped toward the vortex. Cillian lingered, but the air around us crackled with unspoken tension.
Seraphina set the mirror down, her voice softening despite the tension.
“Nourishmenthas been prepared in the West Wing kitchens. You know the path beyondRosenwacht-Halle.You’refree to roam within the wards of Sternwacht Manor until we return.
” They turned and left, the air rippling as the vortex winked out behind them.