Page 64 of Necromance
And the music surged.
Lucien tried to resist. I could see it in every taut line of his body, the way his shoulders strained against the pull, the way his fiststrembled, clenched tight at his sides. But the vines around his legs jerked him forward again, guiding him step by unwilling step across the ballroom floor.
He reached Serena.
The music swelled, impossibly louder, the skeletal orchestra playing with wild, frantic fervor. The dancers spun faster, more violently, as if the room itself was unraveling with madness.
Serena raised her hand expectantly. Lucien hesitated, just for a breath, and then his arm lifted, as if tugged by invisible strings, and he took her hand in his.
My stomach twisted.
“No,” I cried, but the word was swallowed by the music.
They moved in a slow, elegant waltz, his steps mechanical, forced, hers smooth and sickeningly graceful. Lucien’s face was carved from stone, blank and haunted. His eyes met mine once, just once, and what I saw there broke me—rage, disgust… and something like helplessness.
She was controlling him. He was too weak to stop her.
“You see now, Mia,” Serena crooned as she twirled beneath his arm, her skirts swirling like smoke. “He belongs to me. Always has. Always will.”
Then she leaned in and kissed him.
I made a sound, half scream, half sob as Lucien stood frozen beneath her mouth. Her fingers curled aroundthe back of his neck, possessive and cruel, her body pressed shamelessly against his.
He didn’t move. He couldn’t.
I thrashed in the vines that held me, the thorns slicing deeper as I fought against them. Blood bloomed beneath my nightdress, but I didn’t care. I had to stop her. I had to reach him. The music spun madly around us, the air thick with decay and old magic. And Serena smiled against his lips like she had already won. I watched helplessly as he continued to twirl her around, a deep, agonizing sickness filling my heart. I tried to look away, but the vines tangled in my hair, jerking my head viciously and forcing me to watch.
Lucien’s body moved stiffly, like a marionette pulled by a cruel hand, but still, he moved, one step, then another, forced to match Serena’s rhythm. Her smile never wavered. She clung to him, her crimson skirts trailing like blood across the cracked marble floor. The music had taken on a nightmarish lilt, twisted and manic, each note scraping down my spine.
I couldn’t look away. Couldn’t breathe.
Then Serena tilted her head and looked up at him with mock sweetness. “Have you told her?” she asked, her voice a serpent’s hiss. “About your memories? About what happened betweenus?”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
Lucien’s eyes found mine again. This time, they held something different—something raw. Shame. Regret. An apology unspoken but deafening.
“What is she talking about?” I rasped, the words torn from my throat.
Serena laughed, the sound like glass shattering. She leaned in close, brushing her lips against Lucien’s ear. “Oops,” she said in a stage whisper. “Looks like you’ve been keeping secrets from your little pet.”
Lucien flinched, but said nothing.
Serena’s eyes glittered as she turned her gaze on me, triumphant and cruel. “Oh, sweet girl,” she hummed. “You thought you knew him, didn’t you? Thought you could save him?” Her hand trailed down Lucien’s chest, possessive, venomous. “But there are pieces of him you haven’t even touched. And I was there, long before you.”
My blood turned to ice.
Lucien’s mouth parted slightly, like he wanted to speak, wanted to explain, but the curse held him fast. And maybe… maybe so did his guilt.
I stared at him, unable to form words, unable to look away. What memories? I’d seen his memories… hadn’t I? I tried to remember what I’d seen the night I took the elixir. Everything I remembered had confirmed that Lucien was innocent so what could she be talking about?
My voice cut through the music like a blade. “Lucien, did you get your memories back?” My handsfisted at my sides, still bound by the cursed vines, but the ache in my chest drowned out everything else. “Tell me!”
But he didn’t. He couldn’t.
His mouth opened, jaw trembling like he was trying to speak, but no sound came. His eyes, burning with helpless frustration, locked with mine. The way he looked at me then, tortured, pleading, it nearly broke me.
Serena smiled.
