CHAPTER 3
1287 Words
Eyes That Never Smile
Amara's POV
I almost dropped the locket because my hands were trembling so much. Those red words burnt into my consciousness as I stood still in the nursery doorway, gazing at the wall. No one was in the beds. My infants are nowhere to be found. Not a sound. All I can feel is the chilling weight of terror.
I screamed their names as I rushed down each corridor in the home. Nobody responded. Not even a maid. Not even a guard. The house seemed to have eaten itself completely, sinking into a frightful quiet.
The door of Adrian's office was open when I arrived to the west wing. As if nothing had occurred, he was inside, standing at the window. Calm as usual, he turned slowly, hands clasped behind his back. But there was never a grin in his eyes.
"Where are they?" I broke my voice and gasped out.
He remained still. just looked at me as if I were beneath him. As if I had let him down. He responded, "You breached the rule." "You visited him. That is treachery.
I stepped up and yelled, "I'm their mother." "You can't—"
With a deadly soft voice, he interrupted, "I can." "I own you. They also do.
I wanted to hurl something at him. Until the walls fell, I wanted to shout. However, I understood that anger wouldn't help. Not right now. Not with Adrian. I had to be more intelligent.
“I’ll do anything you want,” I murmured softly, my hands tightening into fists behind my back. Let me see them, please. Please.
After examining me for a while, he c****d his head. "If you act appropriately," he said. "If you overlook the boy. if you remain in your proper place.
I nodded slowly, trying not to show the wrath that was brewing within of me. There was nothing I could do.
He sent me to the west tower that evening. Silently, a maid escorted me down the corridor and opened a door at the top. Inside was chilly and deserted, with one chair and a tiny glass window. Through that glass, I saw them—my children—sleeping in different rooms, supervised by soldiers.
I touched the glass with my hand. I bit back my tears as they welled up in my eyes.
Adrian said behind me, "You'll be permitted to visit them twice a week." "If you're good."
I didn't look back. I was unable to. I could break if I did.
The following day, I began faking.
I kept the grin on my face. I complied with the guidelines. Adrian's dry quips made me chuckle, so I remained near him. I once again became the ideal wife. But within, I was developing a strategy.
I returned to the room with the mirror. Returning to the chest. I read more of the black book. Spells were used. Old promises. Blood-drawn symbols. It was an agreement, not only a curse. sealed with the death of a lady who attempted to flee a long time ago, and passed on from father to son.
Selena.
the initial spouse.
She had been attempting to warn the others ever since her soul became stuck in the mirror. Adrian's insanity was spiritual rather than just control-related. Any lady who disobeyed her pledge, he thought, would unleash the curse inside him. And it always ended in death when it did.
However, what if someone broke the agreement?
I spent days looking. Hidden documents. confidential correspondence. Whispers between scared maids. I deduced that Liam's mother was the only person who had ever attempted to break the curse. Prior to her disappearance.
Liam had something, too. A mark. A crescent moon-shaped birthmark on his chest. Adrian's own cousin, separated for love, was a member of the original lineage. That implied that the secret to breaking it may lie in Liam's blood.
I needed to figure out how to get him inside the house.
I thus wrote him a letter. When the driver went out for supplies, he put one tightly folded paper into his pocket. I had to try even though I wasn't sure whether it would get to him.
I discovered a message under my pillow three days later.
Just six words. No name.
**"Midnight. The greenhouse. Avoid being late. **
I didn't get much sleep. I waited while keeping track of the old clock in my room. I changed into my robe and snuck through the hallways as the clock struck twelve. Every stride I took made my heart race.
The moonlight illuminated the greenhouse. Breathing heavily, I entered.
He was present.
Liam.
Real, weary, and filthy.
I almost fell to the ground in relief as he drew me into his arms.
"I received your letter," he muttered. "Your mother informed me about this ancient passage years ago, and I located it. through the precipices.
I filled him in on everything—the lineage, the covenant, the mirror.
I didn't realize I needed those words, but he spoke them after listening.
"I'll carry it out. Whatever is necessary.
We shared a quick kiss as if everything may end at any moment. Perhaps it would.
Everything was prepared by us.
Where would he hide? What I would do to divert Adrian. What we would need in order to smash the mirror.
Everything seemed brittle. Risky. However, I clung to hope.
Then, when I crept back into my chamber shortly before dawn—
He was there.
Adrian.
occupying my chair.
in possession of Liam's locket.
He grinned slowly and cruelly.
"I told you about that," he said. "And it's time to punish you now."
I became cold. We were both locked in the room together as the door creaked shut behind me. Adrian kept his hard, piercing gaze on me. With the picture of Liam still within, the locket swung softly out of his hands.
"You believe I'm blind?" He replied, carefully getting to his feet. "Amara, there are eyes all around this home. Even those who don't blink. even those who never grin.
My mouth became parched. My ears thumped with my heartbeat. Though I knew deep down that neither would rescue me, I wasn't sure whether to plead or refuse. Adrian had already decided on something.
He approached with purposeful strides. "Amara, you've roused something. I buried it a long time ago. You should have complied, but now you've made me feel weak. His breath was frigid on my face as he came to a halt just in front of me. "And there is a cost to weakness."
All of a sudden, he grabbed my wrist. He had an iron grasp. "Goodbye to your children," he shouted, yanking me forward.
"No!" I yelled and tried to back off, but he was too powerful.
He pulled me toward the west wing along the corridor. In the direction of the secret elevator that only he utilized. I kicked, struggled, and pleaded, but it made no difference. I cried, but the palace engulfed me.
I saw the number panel as the elevator came down. The basement was considerably below it. To the first floor I had ever seen.
It was dark when the door opened.
An extended tunnel.
damp stone walls. Torches flickering. Death and mold were pervasive in the air.
Adrian pushed me in front.
Behind me, he murmured in a cool, collected voice, "They're waiting." "And they are quite hungry."
Trying to flee, I turned, but it was too late.
Behind me, the stone door crashed.
Adrian's warning that something terrible is lurking in the shadows echoes when Amara finds herself alone and afraid in a secret subterranean corridor within the estate. **
- Writer
