Page 163 of Bound By Crimson
For what that means. But I will not hate her.
She is not a mistake.
She is the only pure thing I’ve ever known in this house.
And I’m going to get her out.
Lyric sat up, slowly, her arms trembling.
She turned the page, feeling Eden’s desperation.
The next entry hit her like a strike to the chest.
My mother already picked out her name—Edwina.
A legacy name. A curse wrapped in lace.
She bought the dress. The bonnet. She told the staff.
But that’s not her name. That will never be her name.
Her name is Lyric. Not Edwina.
She will have a life that sings, not one that suffocates.
Lyric’s lips parted.
Her pulse hammered in her throat.
Lyric.
She wrote my name. It has to be a coincidence.
She swallowed hard, the journal trembling in her hands, and read the final lines.
I know I should feel worse about leaving Malachai behind.
But I believe our father will protect him.
He loves that boy more than anything.
He’s the only light left in this house. He didn’t want this for me either. He tried to protect me. But she said it was God’s will. That the Thornwick blood had to remain pure.
That we were chosen. Sacred. Set apart.
She spoke those words like scripture—as if her voice carried divine authority.
I’m not just running away.
I’m saving my daughter.
Lyric stared at the page.
The brown-haired woman in the photo, Eden Thornwick, hadn’t just looked like her.
She lookedexactlylike her.
Lyric’s breath hitched.
