Page 32 of Necromance
“I can’t. She’s watching. She’ll punish me… she’ll punish her.” Portia said, a pleading tremor in her voice as she turned away. “I must go before she sees me speaking to you. Please… look in the library.”
And then, before I could say another word, she was gone, vanishing into the ether as quickly as she had appeared, leaving me standing there, more lost than ever.
I stood frozen, the weight of her words sinking into me. I needed answers. Desperately.
I blinked, still trying to process Portia’s warning, but my thoughts scattered the moment I heard Mia’s voice. I turned around, and there she was, standing in the doorway with that sweet grin on her face. It was like a breath of fresh air sweeping through the gallery, cutting through the tension that had been clinging to me.
“Lucien? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she said with a playful twinkle in her green eyes.
I stared at her, caught off guard. It wasn’t the joke that took me by surprise, though. It was the way she looked, her auburn hair, the curve of her lips, the way her smile lit up the room. For a second, I just stood there, frozen, forgetting everything else. She was simple in the best way, beautiful in a way that felt… dangerous, like I could lose myself in her.
“Perhaps I have,” I muttered, my voice rougher than I intended.
She didn’t seem to notice, her smile widening at her own sarcasm, but the way I was looking at her must have made her hesitate. That light in her eyes dulled for just a moment, then her voice softened and I could hear the genuine concern in it.
“What’s wrong?”
I hesitated for a moment, before the words slipped out. “Portia, themaid. She was here, just now.” I ran a hand through my hair, frustrated. “She told me Serena’s full name. Townsend.”
Mia stepped closer, her eyes narrowing as she processed the information. “Oh?”
I nodded. The name had been like a key in a lock, clicking open something buried deep in my mind, but the puzzle still wasn’t completely clear. The pieces were slowly revealing themselves to me, each memory a bitter reminder of a past I wished I could forget again. I didn’t bother telling her this. Not yet.
Mia’s gaze held mine, searching, and she stepped closer. “Did she say anything more? About Serena, I mean?”
I let out a frustrated breath. “No, she didn’t. She’s too afraid of Serena. She wouldn’t say anything more.”
Mia’s brow furrowed, and her lips pressed into a thin line as she took a step back, processing everything. “Afraid of her?” She shook her head slightly, almost as if trying to make sense of the words. “What does Serena have over them?”
The weight of the question sat heavily between us. My mind was a whirl of confusion and frustration. “I don’t know. But it’s clear enough now. She’s the one keeping everyone here, keeping me… trapped.”
Mia looked at me, her expression unreadable for a moment, but then she nodded, a determination settling intoher posture. “Then we’ll just have to work harder to figure it out.”
Her words brought an ounce of hope, but it didn’t quite unwind the unease tightening in my chest.
“We’ll get through this,” she said, a strange certainty in her tone. And for reasons I couldn’t explain, her words made me believe her.
She stepped past me, brushing against my side, and I couldn’t help but notice the way she moved. There was an effortless grace to her, something that felt natural, like she belonged in this space, in this moment. The soft, sweet scent of roses caressed my senses and I breathed her in deeply.
Lifting to her tiptoes to look at one of the paintings, the delicate splay of freckles across her nose wrinkled as she studied it. Something stirred in me that I couldn’t quite place, a pulse of something dangerous, something I couldn’t control. Everything about her was magnificent and magnetic.
I ran my eyes the length of her while she was otherwise occupied. The way her dark onyx gown seemed to hug every curve of her body and her bodice dipping enticingly low made my hands ache to touch her.
And for the first time in a long while, I found myself wondering what it would be like to have something real, even if my curse would consume her.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The library loomed ahead, its large oak doors seemingly waiting for us. It was the only other clue that Portia had given Lucien, so of course, we followed it. I couldn’t help but feel the weight of everything pressing down on me—the curse, Serena, the spirits trapped in this place. My mind was spinning with possibilities, but I had no real direction, no clear answers.
Plus there was the castle which seemed to be its own entity.
I paused mid-step, my gaze catching on the portrait hanging in the dim corridor. Lucien’s likeness stared back at me, dark eyes and chiseled features. I hadn’t passed it since releasing Lucien from it and now something about it made me stop.
Lucien took another step before realizing I had halted. “What is it?”
I stepped closer, narrowing my eyes. An unease swept through me. There, just along the bottom right corner.The paint looked… faded. Not by much, but enough to notice now that I was looking for it. Had it always been like that?
“Lucien,” I murmured, glancing at him. “Has the painting always looked like this?” I gestured toward the faintly discolored spot.
