All Chapters of The Bride I Used to Be: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The morning sun bled through the curtains, pale and thin after the night’s storm. Bliss lay on the bed with the key hidden once more beneath the mattress, her body still trembling from her attempt to reach the West Wing. She had not slept since fleeing back through the passage, every shadow in the room a reminder of what she thought she had seen behind that heavy door. A figure, waiting in silence. Watching. The clock ticked steadily on the mantel, each sound drawing her further into dread. Damon would come. He always came. And this morning, he would see what she had done written on her face. He had a way of piercing through her silence, dragging truth out of her without words. She pulled the blanket tighter around herself, but the thought brought no comfort. The door opened without warning, as it always did. Damon stepped inside, his dark coat damp from the morning air, his presence filling the room with controlled authority. He closed the door behind him, the lock clicking softly

The night drew close like a hand pressing gently over her mouth. Bliss sat on the edge of the bed with her back against the carved post, watching the pale moonlight fall across the floorboards. Her thoughts did not rest. The mirror’s silent plea still echoed inside her, run, and yet it had not turned her away from the secret in her possession. If anything, it had made her hold the key tighter. At last, when the hour grew deep and the house settled into its nighttime stillness, she rose and slipped the key from beneath the mattress. The cold of the metal met her skin like water from a spring, shocking and steadying her at once. She tucked it inside the bodice of her nightdress and crossed to the wardrobe. The latch clicked softly, and the panel eased open to reveal the narrow passage behind. The air was close in the corridor, filled with the smell of old plaster and dust. She pressed one hand to the wall as she descended the short steps, the stone rough beneath her fingers. Every br

The morning crept into her room with gray light, thin and watchful. Bliss had not truly slept. Dreams had carried her back into the wing again and again, until the line between memory and dream blurred. She rose late, her body heavy, her thoughts restless. When she stood before the mirror to comb her hair, her own eyes startled her. They were darker than she remembered, ringed with shadows that told of secrets kept awake through the night. She dressed slowly, her fingers clumsy with the laces. By the time she left her room, the house was already alive with the soft clatter of servants moving quietly about their work. She drifted toward the dining room, her hand trailing along the cold wall, when she felt it: that sensation of being watched. She turned, and Damon stood at the end of the corridor. His figure filled the space easily, the dark cut of his jacket absorbing the dim light. His eyes fixed on her, unreadable, steady. She froze, her pulse sharp in her throat. “You look pale

Morning arrived without warmth. The sky beyond the window held the color of dull metal, and the light that entered the room felt strained, as if it had pushed through clouds that did not wish to let it pass. Bliss lay on her side and watched the pale stripe creep across the floorboards. The memory of the chapel pressed behind her eyes. Damon had said he would show her why she must obey. The words had followed her into shallow sleep and clung to the edges of her dreams until she woke with the taste of them in her throat. She sat up slowly and touched the center of her palm where the key had marked her skin the night before. The impression had faded, yet her hand still remembered its shape. She dressed with care and braided her hair while the room thickened with the quiet of early day. When she faced the mirror, her eyes surprised her. They were darker than before, shadowed by tiredness, but they did not look soft. They held a steady will that had not lived in them when she first woke

The day began in silence, yet it did not carry the stillness of peace. Bliss moved through her morning routine with deliberate care, her mind circling the trail of blood she had followed the night before. She had not spoken of it. She had not told Damon, nor had she asked the servants whether they had seen the stains before they were scrubbed away. She carried the memory like a secret cut into her palm, hidden yet impossible to forget. At breakfast she sat across from Damon in the long dining hall. He had papers spread near his plate, his pen moving between bites. He spoke of routine matters, supplies, the schedule for repairs in the south wing but his eyes did not rise to hers often. His composure seemed undisturbed, yet she wondered if he knew more than he allowed himself to show. When the meal ended, he stood and brushed a hand along the back of her chair as if in silent assurance. “Walk in the gardens this afternoon,” he said. “The air will ease you.” The suggestion carried n