Page 228 of Bound By Crimson
His eyes were wide—he truly believed this.
“She told me about those who disobeyed—how their children were born wrong, how entire branches of the family tree were wiped out in fire or madness.”
“She said hell waits for the impure. That our souls would rot, our legacy would end, and God would erase us from existence.”
A bitter breath escaped him.
“Our family is dying, Lyric. There’s no one left. I’m the last male of our bloodline. We tried. But my mother was too old to carry a child. So… we had to find you—to continue the legacy.”
A sharp breath rattled through her. Her entire body recoiled, like something filthy had touched her.
We tried.
The words echoed in her skull—twisting into something worse than betrayal.
They would have.
They tried to.
Her vision blurred with disgust.
“We were the last chance to keep it pure.” He continued, like it was matter-of-fact. Normal. “It was my duty to marry you, make a generation that could carry it forward. You should’ve wanted this too.”
He hesitated. His voice wavered.
“But I still had to worry about what the rest of the world would say—what I knew deep down. That it’s wrong. That it’s… monstrous.
“So, I left. I tried to move on. Focused on other women. And I hate myself for that… But I didn’t stop wanting you.”
“And if there’s any part of you that still feels what we had… maybe we could try again.”
Lyric sat stunned, her chest tight with a storm of emotion.
Her face twisted, part rage, part heartbreak.
But even then… her heart wanted more.
He said he loved me.
The words echoed and all the emotions rushed through her.
Circling back to the fact that he was her uncle.
Her birth mother’s brother.
She jerked back like she’d been burned.
“You tricked me,” she said, trembling with rage.”
“You knew—and you still touched me. Still said you loved me.”
“Made me fall for you—sleep with you—carry your child—without telling me the truth.”
She was on her feet now, trembling with rage.
“You knew it was sick. You knew it was wrong.”
She laughed bitterly, a sound with no joy behind it.
