Chapter 10 — Splinters in the Walls

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• THE SHADOW BRIDE   Chapter 25 – The Quiet After the Storm

  The sun dips lower in the sky, casting long shadows across the clearing. The warm hues of twilight reflect off Elias’s face, softening the hard angles that have become so familiar. There’s a stillness in the air now, an unspoken tension that has simmered under the surface of our shared silence. We’re sitting close, our shoulders almost touching, and for the first time in a long time, I’m aware of every detail—the brush of my hair against the cool evening breeze, the soft rustle of leaves around us, the steady rise and fall of Elias’s breath beside me.There’s a quiet between us, but it’s different now. It’s not the uncomfortable silence that usually hangs between us—it’s something deeper. Something fragile, yet palpable.I glance at him from the corner of my eye, my heart beating just a little faster. The tension is undeniable now, a thread pulling taut between us. His gaze is on me too, I can feel it, and it makes me hesitate, unsure of what this moment is, unsure of what it means.H

• THE SHADOW BRIDE   Chapter 24 – A Moment of Peace

  The morning sun is soft today, gently spilling its warmth across the small clearing Elias led me to. There’s a crispness in the air that suggests the remnants of winter still cling to the edges of spring, and for a fleeting moment, I think I might actually enjoy this.Elias, for the first time in a long while, is smiling—his eyes warm as he moves around, setting up a blanket beneath a large oak tree. I’m still not entirely sure what brought on this sudden gesture of normalcy. After all, our lives have been so tangled in secrets and expectations, but I’m not going to question it. Not today.“Why a picnic?” I ask, sitting on the blanket and letting the gentle breeze play with my hair. The way Elias arranges the basket on the grass with quiet care seems almost domestic, out of place in the world we’ve been living in. He shrugs slightly, a subtle but genuine smile pulling at his lips.“I thought we could… do something normal. For once,” he says, glancing over at me. The hesitation in his

• THE SHADOW BRIDE   Chapter 23 – The Watcher’s Vigil

  There are places beyond mortal comprehension, tucked into the folds of time and space, where the past, present, and future collide in silent, ever-moving currents. These places do not belong to the world you know, to the earth beneath your feet, to the air you breathe. They exist in a liminal state—part of every moment, yet apart from all of them. In these forgotten corners, in the hushed realms where reality stretches thin, the Watcher lingers. It is not a force of nature or a creature bound to the same rules that govern human life. It is something older, something eternal, a silent presence that has existed far longer than any man, woman, or child could understand.The Watcher is a thing of paradox—both guardian and voyeur, keeper and harbinger. It does not interfere in the lives it follows. It does not reach out to intervene in the choices made by those whose paths it crosses. But it is always watching, always witnessing, its attention unblinking. Time is no prison for it, nor is s

• THE SHADOW BRIDE   Chapter 22 – The Marked Path

  (Elias’s Point of View)I watch her go. Avery’s retreating figure disappears down the hallway, her footsteps echoing in the silence of the house, and I feel something inside me crack—a sharp, silent break. The words I said to her, the truths I forced out—none of it has made anything better. She’s more distant than ever. The look in her eyes, the betrayal in her gaze, is too much for me to bear. I’ve been waiting for the moment when she would leave, when she would see the real cost of everything that’s been set in motion. But I wasn’t prepared for how much it would hurt to see her slip away like this.I can’t let her leave. Not like this. I can’t allow her to get lost in the chaos. But I’m not sure I can stop her. Not now. Not when I’ve already said too much.I turn away from the door, my thoughts a tangled mess of regret and frustration. The house is too quiet without her, too empty. It’s always been this way, even when Camille was here, when I was just a boy. The silence creeps in, t

• THE SHADOW BRIDE   Chapter 21 – The Price of Knowledge

  (Avery’s Point of View)The air in the room feels heavy, as if the walls themselves are closing in on me. My heart is still racing from what I just read, the words still burned into my mind: Camille is alive. How could she be? The body was identified, buried, mourned. How is it possible that my sister, the one I thought was gone forever, is still out there?Elias doesn’t move, doesn’t speak. He’s standing there, watching me, his eyes dark and distant, like he’s waiting for something to happen. I don’t know what. I don’t know what I’m supposed to say, but I feel the need to fill the silence, to demand answers, but I can’t make my voice work. It’s as if the weight of the truth is suffocating me.I look down at the book in my hands again, the pages now closed, but I can still feel the burn of the words on my skin. It’s almost like the book itself is alive, pulsing with an energy that doesn’t belong in this world. My fingers curl into the edges of the cover, and for a moment, I wonder if

• THE SHADOW BRIDE   Chapter 20 – The Ties That Bind

  (Avery’s Point of View)The moonlight spills in through the window like a pale veil, casting long shadows across the floor. I can’t sleep. I haven’t been able to for days. Every night feels like I’m drifting on the edge of something, caught between two worlds. The one where I’m Avery Harper, just a girl trying to survive her sister’s death and the mess of a life I never asked for, and the other where I’m Avery Maddox, tangled up in a curse I don’t understand, married to a man whose secrets are darker than his eyes.I sit on the edge of the bed, the room feeling too quiet, too heavy. The only sound is the faint crackling from the fireplace downstairs, the only sign of life in this house that feels more like a tomb than a home. It’s a mansion in name, but the walls feel too close, the halls too empty. I’ve started seeing things in the corners of my vision—flickers of movement, shadows that shift when I’m not looking directly at them. It’s not just the Watcher anymore. Something else is