Mag-log inAIDANThe building had no sign outside.No company name.No brass plaque.Nothing that would tell an ordinary person what lived inside those walls.It stood in the center of the financial district, polished glass and black stone rising into the grey morning like a monument to wealth. Men in tailored suits moved in and out through revolving doors with the kind of faces that never smiled unless profit was involved.My father always did like hiding rot beneath expensive things.I stepped out of the car and shut the door harder than necessary.The air was cold enough to sting my lungs. I welcomed it.I had barely slept after his call. Every time I closed my eyes I heard his voice again.It is high time you took your crown.As if I were a child late to dinner.As if crowns had ever interested me.As if he could summon me with a sentence and expect obedience.I walked through the lobby without speaking to anyone. Men at the front desk straightened the second they saw me. One reached for a p
Sylas woke to pain so complete it felt intelligent.It sat behind his eyes first, a slow drilling pressure that made the dark room pulse every time he blinked. Then it moved lower, spreading through his jaw, his throat, the hollow of his chest. Even his feet were cold. Not ordinary cold, but corpse-cold, the kind that made the bones ache from the inside.For a long moment he stayed where he was, staring at the ceiling as dawn bled weakly through the curtains.He wondered if this was how monsters unraveled.Not with violence.With discomfort.With humiliation.With the body turning traitor piece by piece.A curse left no dignity behind.He pushed himself upright. The movement made nausea twist through him and he had to brace a hand against the mattress until the room steadied. His breath came slower than usual. Too slow. Too measured. As though something inside him was rationing life.“Beautiful,” he muttered to no one.He crossed the room barefoot.The floorboards were freezing beneat
Sleep came badly.It dragged me under in pieces, never fully, never kindly. One moment I was lying beside Dahlia with her leg tangled over mine and her hair spread across my chest. The next I was back inside those files, reading names written in blood and ink, hearing my father’s voice behind every line.I woke with a sharp breath.My skin was damp.The sheets clung to my back.For a second, the room was only darkness and the pounding of my own heart. Then I felt Dahlia beside me, warm and soft, still asleep, her hand curled loosely against my ribs like even unconscious she needed proof I was there.The phone vibrating on the nightstand felt louder than thunder.I snatched it before the second ring.My father’s name glowed across the screen.Every muscle in my body tightened.I slid carefully from beneath Dahlia and crossed the room barefoot before answering.“What?”No greeting.No hesitation.Silence breathed through the line for a beat.Then his voice came, calm as polished steel.
I spread the files across Aidan’s bed with hands that would not stop trembling.The envelopes were old, thick with age and dust, tied together with fading red string. Some were neatly labelled in ink that had bled at the edges. Others had no names at all, only dates and strange symbols pressed into the paper.The bedroom was too quiet.Outside the tall windows, the city glowed in soft evening gold, traffic moving far below like streams of light. Inside, the only sound was our breathing.Aidan sat beside me on the mattress, one knee bent, sleeves rolled to his forearms. He looked calm if you didn’t know him.I knew him now.The stillness in his jaw meant rage was waiting underneath.I picked up the first file.My fingers hesitated over the flap.“Ready?” I asked.“No,” he said honestly. “Open it anyway.”So I did.Inside were three letters folded carefully into one another.The paper smelled faintly of cedar and time.I unfolded the first.The handwriting hit me before the words did.M
The blade spun between my fingers in clean, practiced circles.Silver flashed through the dark each time it turned, catching the low amber light from the lamp in the corner before disappearing again. Up. Twist. Catch. Up again.It was the sort of movement that required no thought.Good.Thought had become an inconvenience lately.My room was silent except for the soft click of metal against skin and the distant groan of old pipes somewhere in the walls below. I preferred silence. It asked nothing of me. It did not bring questions I had no interest in answering.The problem was that silence left too much room for memory.A pair of honey-brown eyes rose uninvited behind my own.Dahlia.The blade slipped.A sharp sting kissed the pad of my thumb.I looked down at the thin line of blood gathering there, bright and obscene against pale skin.Annoying.I placed the cut to my tongue without thinking.Copper bloomed warm across it.For one fractured second, my body reacted with violent disapp
I stopped at the flower shop three streets from the apartment because Dahlia once mentioned, absentmindedly, that fresh flowers made a room feel less lonely.She had said it one time, while brushing her teeth, half asleep, foam at the corner of her mouth and hair tied in a crooked knot. I had laughed so hard she threatened to spit toothpaste at me.Now I stood in front of a wall of roses and lilies feeling like an idiot because I could not remember if she preferred white flowers or pink ones.“Need help?” a voice asked brightly.I looked over.The girl behind the counter was pretty in a polished, deliberate kind of way. Her lipstick was perfect. Her smile was practiced. She leaned forward just enough to let me know it was intentional.“For your girlfriend?” she asked.“For my mate,” I corrected.Something in my tone must have landed because her smile faltered for half a second.“Oh,” she said, recovering quickly. “Lucky girl.”I gave her nothing.My attention returned to the flowers.
I leaned up to stand on my tiptoes and moaned into his mouth.That was all he needed.He leaned in, grabbed me up and carried me into the bedroom. All the while, he never pulled out of the kiss.The soft mattress sank beneath my back as he placed me down, and he was on me again. His tongue was digg
“Ready for the big game?” Esmeralda asks as she pours coffee beans into the grinder.“I don’t think I’m going,”“You’re not going?” Luke asks, as he grabs the box and places it in his courier bag.“No, I don’t…” My phone vibrates on the counter. I grab it and stare at the screen.“Wait, I just got
The moment I see the tall building, I stop. I’m both scared and excited. But the fear is beginning to take over.I think of turning back but the chance of seeing Aidan is tempting. So I take a deep breath and walk faster in case I change my mind, it would be too late to turn around.There’s a few p
When Aidan said he had sent everyone home, I hadn’t realized that he meant every single soul in the entire building. The mansion was a graveyard that amplified every tiny sound, even the sound of my breaths.The sound of the butter in the pan bounces over the surface of the stainless steel furnishi







