We returned to Seattle the next day. It was a long flight and I used the time I had to ponder about some things.I clearly understood now what Lucius wanted me to do. For me to be his puppet and obey all his whims in disguise of helping me ruin Benedict. But if I blindly follow his every command, wouldn’t it be not my revenge but his? And at the end of the day, what would I become? A trash at his disposal. Which didn’t sound good to me.He had his plans, but I should have my own too. I couldn’t just rely my goals to someone who wouldn’t think twice of killing me if I made a mistake. I should have my own direction.That was why I came up with a plan myself.I couldn’t just let that Lucius Voss control me. If honey trap was his way of luring Benedict to his web, then I would use that same tactic to him.Seduction. I looked over the window of my room, pacing back and forth, thinking how I could possibly fool two men at the same time. Not just ordinary men but devil alphas.It would sure
It smelled like flowers, honey, vanilla, something with a bit of sandalwood. I could not pinpoint exactly what it smelled like but it smelled so nice. When I regained consciousness, it was the first thing I noticed. Then when I opened my eyes, I noticed the room I was in which wasn’t anything familiar. It was spacious and the bed was nice. The walls were painted beige and it was cozy. Was I somewhere in Lucius’ manor? What happened in the garden? How did I get here? I rose from the bed, confused. Lucius didn’t allow me to enter just any room. Trying to remember what happened after I went close to the mirror, I went off the bed and walked over the glass window. Tall curtains fell on the sides, letting the light of sunset go through. Wait, it was already sunset? But I went to the garden at eleven and spent a few hours there. Did that mean I slept the rest of the afternoon? My eyes widened in horror. I should be back in my room before Lucius arrives! Turning on my heel, I stopped wh
“Come back here,” Lucius said seriously. There was no mockery nor playfulness in his tone.I went closer to the mirror and put my hand on it to see if I could get through it but I only touched its surface like a glass. I tried to break it with two fists but I couldn’t.I thought I was dreaming? If someone could tell he was dreaming in his dream, then that could be lucid dreaming. And weren’t lucid dreams supposed to be easy since you could take control of whatever’s happening around you? Besides, wolf shifters’ minds were stronger than humans. It was rare for us to have such nightmares where we are trapped and powerless like this.Could it be that I never got back to the manor and got trapped inside the mirror in the maze? After all, the last thing I remembered, I went close to the mirror and felt like I was being pulled by a strong force before everything went black.“Get out of that fucking mirror, Madeline,” Lucius ordered once again as if he couldn’t see me trying to get out. But
“You should stop him!” I looked at the woman, panicking. I couldn’t just let anyone suffer in my place when it was my carelessness that got me here. It was my fault and no one else should die for it. “I have no say in whatever is happening outside the mirror, nor could I refuse a soul if it’s thrown in here. The mirror has its own will, and that is to take every soul that goes through it.” “Then at least let me talk to him,” I pleaded desperately, watching Lucius stand aside while Bentley walked over the mirror pushing the poor maid. I bet they just got her from the mansion without letting her know that she would be killed for no reason. “Apparently, that is not possible.” “But Lucius talked to me earlier from outside.” “Yes, he did. But the mirror only let him see you for a moment because he used some spell on it. But this relic is more than a thousand years old. It can manage its power so well that even a powerful alpha could not get through its barrier,” she explained. Her long
The rumbling of the sky made me jolt from a shallow sleep. A flicker of lightning flashed across the garden before drops started to fall. I looked up, my face getting wet by the light rain that gradually turned heavy.Hugging my knees, I put my chin above it. It was unbelievably cold that I could feel myself shivering. My clothes got soaked but I couldn’t stop thinking how a person just died because of me. I knew Lucius’ evil nature was to blame but I admit I was at fault too. If I didn’t let my curiosity over something obviously dangerous take over me, I couldn’t have been sucked by the mirror.I remembered something like this happened back when I was young. I had this friend, Sasha, whom I really liked. I was ten and studying at the town’s school for wolf shifters. Dad had always reminded me to never go near the town’s borders, but one time, Sasha asked me if I could come with her at the riverbank near the border to look for her mom’s necklace she dropped when she went there with he
“Get up,” Lucius ordered. Why did he suddenly appear? I stared at him longer, thinking that maybe I was just under illusion that he came for me. Did the mirror’s power still affect me? Or maybe it was because I was getting dizzy. Wolf shifters had better immunity in all aspects compared to humans, but some of us couldn’t last in cold surroundings for long, especially someone as weak as me. Winter was nearing and it was evident in how cold I felt with my entire body soaked. “What? You want to die here?” Lucius’ annoyed tone let me know that he was real. Illusion would be a little nicer, just like what I saw inside the mirror. I put my hand flat on the ground to push myself up. I slowly stood. My lips were shivering. Every nerve of my body was. After all, I had been staying outside for hours and an hour under the heavy rain. Thankfully, I managed to walk till we got inside. The shiny marble floor got wet and dirty. A maid gave Lucius a towel without minding me. All of the servants mu
The sun had risen but the sky remained gloomy as the remnants of the heavy rain last night were still evident. Heading downstairs, I heard voices which didn’t belong to the maids. It didn’t take me long to know where the unusual noise came from. It was from Lucius’ Aunt Roselle and Sophie. “You, put that vase over there,” Roselle instructed the maid while the others were too busy obeying her whims to even notice me. Sophie was sitting on the long sofa, scrolling on her phone. As I stopped at the second to the last stair, the older woman drifted her gaze to me. Her lips tugged up a bit but her narrowing eyes didn’t leave her annoyance unnoticed. “You woke up late, dear Madeline. Sophie and I didn’t wait for you for breakfast. I hope you don’t mind,” her tone was quite friendly and I must say she had good acting skills. Maybe she joined the theater too? Or maybe did some acting lessons. No doubt she would make a good actress. “Of course, I don’t, Mrs. Voss,” I said, assuming that his
I spent the rest of the day in my room, reading a book I picked up somewhere in the library. I didn’t join the two for lunch and had my meal sent over. Because obviously, they wouldn’t enjoy my company, nor would I.I slept during the afternoon. Yesterday was a tough day and I didn’t have a good sleep because I dreamt of the maid who was thrown in the Cursed Mirror. I could still remember the sound of her screams vividly. It haunted me.When I woke up after the same nightmare, it was five in the afternoon. I went for a warm bath to soothe my nerves and forget about it. After staying in the tub for almost an hour, I heard the door of the bathroom click and got alarmed.“Who are you?” I panicked. I couldn’t see the person on the other side because of the frosted glass dividing the bathroom.“Oh shit! I’m sorry, I think I got lost,” it was a man’s voice I wasn’t familiar with. Then there was a loud thud from the shutting of the door.I slipped on the full bathrobe and went to see who it