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638 Words
The road to the Thornveil estate was as cursed as the blood in Mira’s veins.
The trees leaned in like old gossipers, whispering secrets only madmen could understand. Fog clung to the ground like a shroud. The gate, once sealed by ancestral magic, cracked open at her presence like it had been waiting for her.
Kade slowed his steps behind her.
“This place,” he muttered, “it’s alive.”
“It always was,” Mira replied, eyes fixed on the mansion looming ahead. “It fed on fear. And we gave it plenty.”
They crossed the threshold into the ruined courtyard. Black roses bloomed where nothing should have grown. Thorned vines curled around old statues of Mira’s ancestors noble wolves with blank, judgmental eyes.
Kade reached for her hand. She didn’t pull away, but she didn’t squeeze back either.
She was already drifting… into memory.
Flashback.
A seven-year-old Mira stood shivering in this same courtyard, barefoot and bruised.
“Say it,” her father barked.
“I’m cursed,” she whispered.
“Louder.”
“I’m cursed!”
He struck her again. “Good girl.”
Mira flinched.
Not from a blow but from the echo of it.
Kade noticed. “You don’t have to go in.”
“I do,” she whispered. “Because it’s not just a house. It’s a prison holding everything I’ve ever feared. And I need to burn it down.”
The front door groaned as it opened, revealing a grand hallway of dust, cobwebs, and broken chandeliers. Her footsteps echoed as she walked through, trailing her fingers along the walls.
“I was born in this house,” she said. “But I never lived in it. Not really.”
Kade nodded. “Let’s finish what they started.”
They ascended the stairs, reaching the upper chambers. Each door was closed but one stood open.
Her mother’s room.
Mira paused at the threshold.
A silver mirror stood in the corner, unbroken. The bed was still made. A half-burnt candle sat on the dresser.
Then she saw her.
Selene Thornveil.
Not alive. Not dead.
A projection of magic and blood ethereal and terrifyingly calm.
“My daughter,” Selene whispered, voice echoing like wind through trees.
Mira stiffened. “You’re dead.”
“I was never just flesh,” Selene replied. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Kade growled, stepping in front of Mira. “Back. Off.”
Selene’s gaze turned to him cold, assessing.
“The Alpha who would love the cursed one,” she mused. “Bold. Stupid. But bold.”
“Say another word and I’ll—”
“No, Kade,” Mira interrupted. “Let her speak.”
Selene stepped forward. “Your power is incomplete. You carry the blood of Thornveil… but not the truth.”
“What truth?” Mira asked.
“That your curse isn’t a flaw. It’s a key. A weapon meant to erase the Elders. That’s why they fear you. That’s why they want you dead.”
Mira’s breath hitched.
Kade stared at her. “Is that true?”
Mira couldn’t answer.
Because deep down — she felt it.
Selene continued, “You must choose, Mira. Run with your love… or rise alone as the wolf who ends centuries of lies.”
“I don’t want to choose,” Mira snapped. “I want both.”
Selene smiled sadly. “Then you’ll lose everything.”
The vision faded.
Mira stood trembling.
Kade reached for her. “Mira…”
“I need time,” she whispered.
He nodded. “Whatever you need.”
And yet…
The look in her eyes wasn’t just of someone searching for truth.
It was of someone preparing for war.
Outside, thunder cracked.
The Thornveil house had awakened.
And with it, the real curse had begun.
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