Page 31 of Dark Bonds

“You could die,” Everett finishes, his voice barely audible. “Gods, Dorian. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

I laugh, but it’s a hollow sound devoid of any real mirth. “How could I? How do you tell someone that your choices are madness or death? That the very thing that’s killing you is also the only thing keeping you alive?”

Everett sets his drink aside, all pretense of humor gone. He leans forward, his eyes boring into mine with an intensity that makes me want to look away, but I don’t. “And you’re still willing to go through with this knowing what it might cost?”

For a moment, I hesitate. The selfish part of me, the part that wants to live, screams at me to stop and find another way, but then Frankie’s face flashes in my mind again, and I know what I have to do.

“Yes,” I say, my tone filled with a resolve I didn’t know I possessed. “I have to… for Francesca, you, and all the Grays who came before me and suffered under this curse. I can’t let it continue, even if it means my own destruction.”

Everett nods slowly, a mix of pride and sorrow etched on his face. “You’re a braver man than I ever was, Dorian, but are you sure? Is Frankie worth dying for?”

The question hangs in the air between us, charged with centuries of pain and loss. I close my eyes, letting Francesca’s image fill my mind—her smile, her laugh, and the way she looks at me like I’m something precious.

“She’s worth living for,” I answer softly, opening my eyes to meet Everett’s gaze. “And if living isn’t an option, then yes, she’s worth dying for. A world where she’s safe, where she can live without the shadow of my curse hanging over her, is a world worth creating, even if I’m not in it.”

Everett’s eyes glisten with unshed tears, and for a moment, I see the weight of all the loved ones he’s lost and all the pain he’s endured. He reaches out, clasping my shoulder with a grip that’s almost painfully tight. “Then we’ll find a way together, andif the worst happens, I’ll make sure she knows. I’ll make sure she understands what you did for her.”

I nod, unable to speak past the lump in my throat. The gravity of my decision settles over me, both terrifying and liberating. I’ve made my choice.

The momentthe decision settles in my heart, the atmosphere in the room shifts. The shadows, once content to lurk in corners, begin to pulse and writhe with a life of their own. The air thickens, heavy with the acrid taste of ozone and something older, something primal.

“Dorian?” Everett’s voice wavers, a note of fear I’ve never heard before creeping in. “Something’s not right…”

A book slides off a shelf, then another. The fire in the hearth flares impossibly high, casting grotesque shadows that seem to reach for us with grasping fingers.

“Uncle!” I gasp as pain suddenly lancing through my skull. “I think?—”

“Your eyes!” Everett stumbles back, his face pale with shock. “Dorian, your eyes!”

I spin toward the nearest mirror, my heart pounding. What I see nearly stops it altogether. My reflection stares back at me, but my eyes… they are not mine. They glow with an unholy light, with shadows and golden flecks swirling in their depths like some hellish galaxy.

The curse. It’s fighting back.

Pain lances through me, sharp and burning. I double over, gasping for breath as the shadows claw at me from the inside. “Uncle,” I choke out, “I think we’re running out of time.”

Everett is at my side in an instant, his arm around me as the room spins and distorts. “Hold on, kiddo. We’re close. We have to be. Just hold on a little longer.”

As the pain intensifies and the shadows threaten to consume me entirely, I cling to one thought, one name, like a lifeline—Francesca.

I’ll break this curse and keep her safe, even if it’s the last thing I do.

By scale and sky, I swear it.

Chapter 10

Frankie

One Week Later…

The shadows dance at the edge of my vision as I drive across the bridge to Shadow Locke University. My knuckles whiten on the steering wheel as a chill runs down my spine that has nothing to do with the winter cold. It’s move-in day for the spring semester, and the weight of everything I’ve learned in the past six weeks presses down on me.

“Alright, so one more time,” I say, glancing at Tori in the passenger seat. “Anyone can and will try to kill me.”

See, that is the only thing getting to me—well, among a thousand other things, but that’s the one I’m hung up on. It also explains the hostility from the terrible two. Just thinking about them makes my scars ache.

“Yep.” Tori shifts in her seat and turns toward me. Her blue eyes seem to glow with the winter light, and she practically bounces with excitement at getting back on campus.

I, however, have a few hang-ups—four to be exact.

---