Chapter 6: Shadows Between Us
1032 Words
The night pressed heavy against Seraphina’s chest, the kind of silence that didn’t soothe but suffocated. James had walked her deeper into the manor’s private gardens, where the world felt miles away from ordinary life. The stone paths were slick from evening mist, and the vines along the walls curled like snakes, clinging to the air.
James had barely let go of her hand since they stepped outside. His touch wasn’t casual; it lingered, like a claim. Every brush of his skin against hers sent her pulse spiraling out of control. His voice, low and threaded with danger, still echoed in her mind.
“You don’t know what you’ve stepped into, Seraphina.”
She should have asked him to explain. She should have pulled away. Instead, she had leaned closer, intoxicated by the way his eyes burned not just with desire, but with something darker, something primal.
And then—
“Seraphina.”
The voice cut like glass.
Seraphina turned, startled. Esther stood at the edge of the garden, her hair catching the moonlight like a halo, but her eyes were anything but angelic. They burned with something raw, almost feral. She wasn’t smiling the way she always did when they met for coffee or shared late-night jokes. This Esther looked like a storm caged inside fragile skin.
“Esther?” Seraphina blinked, unsure if she was imagining her. “What are you—?”
Her words died.
Esther’s gaze wasn’t on her it was on James. And it was blazing.
“You.” Esther’s voice was a dagger. “What the hell are you doing with her?”
James didn’t flinch. He didn’t even look guilty. Instead, he pulled Seraphina closer by the wrist, so subtly possessive that Seraphina’s breath caught.
“You’re late,” he said, his tone calm, almost mocking. “I expected you would have shown up sooner.”
Seraphina looked between them, her stomach twisting. “Wait, you two… know each other?”
Esther’s laugh was sharp, humorless. “Oh, we know each other. Better than you think.”
Seraphina’s throat went dry. The energy between the siblings wasn’t warmth, wasn’t affection it was war.
James tilted his head, eyes glinting like sharpened steel. “Go back inside, Esther. This doesn’t concern you.”
“Doesn’t concern me?” Esther stepped forward, her heels cracking against the stone path. She was shaking, not with fear, but with rage. “You think I don’t see it? You think I don’t know the way you look at her? The way you—” She cut herself off, swallowing hard. Her hands curled into fists.
Seraphina’s chest tightened. She glanced at Esther. “What are you talking about? Esther, what’s going on?”
Esther’s eyes softened only when they flicked to Seraphina, and in that flicker, Seraphina saw something she hadn’t dared to name before: longing. A desperate, quiet longing.
“She doesn’t know, does she?” Esther spat, turning back to James. “Of course not. You never let anyone know until it’s too late.”
James’s jaw clenched. His hold on Seraphina’s wrist tightened just enough to remind her that escape wasn’t really an option. His voice dropped low, velvet and venom all at once.
“Careful, sister. You’re saying more than you should.”
Sister.
The word hit Seraphina like a lightning strike.
Her heart pounded. “Wait you two are—? No. That doesn’t make sense. Esther, why didn’t you ever tell me you had a brother?”
Esther’s expression faltered for the briefest second, then hardened again. “Because he isn’t just my brother, Seraphina. He’s—”
“Enough.”
James’s voice cut through the night, firm and final. Seraphina’s skin prickled. There was something in the way he said it that silenced everything. Even the air seemed to pause.
Esther’s lips trembled, but her eyes were fire. “You don’t get to tell me when to stop. Not this time.”
She took another step closer. The garden lights flickered, just slightly, as if bending to the weight of her fury.
“You ruin everything you touch, James. You think you can play your games, lure her in with your charm, with your—” She swallowed, unable to say the word. Her fists trembled at her sides. “She’s not yours.”
James smirked, slow and deliberate. “You sound jealous.”
The words sliced the air.
Seraphina’s breath caught. Her gaze snapped to Esther, who looked suddenly exposed, her rage cracking into raw, aching vulnerability.
Jealous.
Was that what this was?
Esther’s eyes flashed with pain. “You don’t understand anything,” she hissed, though her voice shook. “She’s different. She’s not like the others, James. Don’t you dare drag her into what you are.”
Seraphina’s voice finally broke free, thin and shaky. “Into what he is? What are you talking about? What are you both hiding from me?”
Her chest rose and fell rapidly, her heart hammering. The tension between them pressed in on her like a vice.
James looked at her then, finally tearing his gaze from his sister. His eyes softened, just a fraction, but it was enough to make Seraphina’s knees weaken.
“Seraphina,” he murmured, her name rolling off his tongue like a prayer and a warning. “You don’t need to worry. You only need to trust me.”
Esther let out a bitter laugh, her voice breaking. “Trust you? That’s the last thing she should do.”
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Seraphina’s mind spun. Her heart wanted to run to Esther, to demand answers. Her body wanted to stay pressed against James, to drown in the strange, magnetic pull he held over her.
But her instincts screamed that she was standing at the edge of something dangerous something dark and irreversible.
James took a step closer to her, brushing his thumb over her knuckles. His voice dropped so low it was almost a growl.
“You’re mine, Seraphina.”
The words shivered through her like heat and ice at once.
Esther snapped. “No. She’s not.”
And before Seraphina could breathe, Esther lunged.
- Writer
