Chapter 5
When Damien carried Isolde, bleeding and pale, into the hospital, her silken gown was soaked through with scarlet.
The sight of that blood should have filled him with dread for her life. Instead, for one suspended instant, the image of my own tear–stained face flashed across his mind–my eyes bleeding crimson, my words laced with a curse. A chill clawed at his chest, though he shoved it down.
The operating room doors banged open. A physician stepped out, his expression strange as he looked Damien up and down.
“Lord Blackwood,” the doctor said carefully, “there must be some mistake. The patient you brought in–she is not pregnant.”
The words landed like a thunderclap. Damien stood frozen, disbelief scrawled across his face.
“What nonsense is this? She was tested. She told me herself. If she isn’t with child, then why is she bleeding so heavily?”
The doctor hesitated, then answered, “Because she ingested a potent marine toxin. The hemorrhaging is a reaction to poison, not childbirth. We’ll need more time to analyze the exact substance. But I assure you there is no pregnancy.”
ide’s pain
The world tilted beneath Damien’s feet. His first thought was not of Isolde’s pain, but of the countless times she had demanded my blood. Each time, she had clutched her stomach and pleaded that the baby’s life was at stake. Each time, he had indulged her.
And each time, he had turned away from me and toward her.
Only now did he see the truth. She had deceived him from the beginning.
Jaw tight, Damien turned on his heel, intent on leaving. The physician caught his sleeve.
“My lord, we should examine you as well. Given your family history of the cursed illness, your condition requires regular checks.”
Damien blinked at him, uncomprehending. “What illness? I’ve never been sick. My health is-
Agony stabbed his chest mid–sentence. His knees buckled; his palm slammed against the wall for support. A cold sweat soaked his temples as if something venomous crawled through his veins.
Alarm flared in the doctor’s eyes.
“These are the same symptoms your father suffered before his death. You must be tested immediately.”
Damien’s pupils constricted. “My father… he died of heart failure. That was what you said.‘
The doctor looked away. That avoidance was answer enough.
Panic rising in his throat, Damien shoved the man aside and stumbled from the hospital.
Blackwood Manor lay in silence, its great halls heavy with shadow. Damien stormed down into the underground chamber, kicking open the door of the Crystal Confinement Chamber,
But the chamber was empty. The glass was shattered, shards glittering across the floor. The water had drained away. And I- Seraphina–was gone.
His fury exploded, his voice shaking the walls.
“Where is she? Where is Seraphina?”
A guard quailed under his grip. “It was Lady Eleanor, sir. She freed her. Said the mermaid had repaid her debt, and begged you to let her go.”
Damien’s laugh was harsh, broken. “Let her go? After she stole my daughter, after she infected me with this cursed bloodline disease? Never. I’ll scour the seas until she’s dragged back here!”
At that moment, Lady Eleanor appeared. Her face was ashen, her frame frail, but her eyes burned with a desperate fire. She
Chapter 5
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It’s been a while, but I’m finding my faith
clutched a set of papers in her hands.
“Damien, stop this madness.”
“Mother,” he snapped, “Seraphina poisoned Isolde, and she took Liora from
Lady Eleanor’s composure shattered into a million pieces. A raw, guttural
of grief was torn from her throat.
“Are you blind, Damien? Liora is dead. She was your daughter, and you murdered her. How long will you deny the truth?”
Her words slammed into him like a physical blow. His limbs froze, but he quickly twisted his lips into a sneer.
“You too, Mother? Has that creature bewitched you? Liora is a mermaid’s child. She cannot die. I only plucked a few scales–what harm is that? She’ll regenerate.”
but never Liora!”
“She was my daughter too. Do you think I would kill her?” he shouted, his voice cracking. “I hated Seraphina, yes,
Eleanor’s tears streamed unchecked. She thrust a monitor screen toward him, its recording flickering in the dim light.
“Look at it yourself. Look at how she dissolved.”
The footage showed Liora’s tiny body fading into bubbles, until nothing remained but a single pearl resting in my palm.
Damien stumbled backward, horror etched across his face. “No… That can’t be. That pearl… it was-
33
Eleanor’s voice shook as she delivered the final truth.
“It was Liora. When I released Seraphina, she carried the Ocean Pearl to the sea. Only there could your daughter hope for rebirth.”
Damien’s hands trembled violently. The truth churned his stomach with nausea. “But… I-” His voice cracked. “I gave that pearl
to Isolde. I had it ground to dust.”
The color drained from Eleanor’s face. Her knees gave out, and she crumpled to the floor.
“Then it is finished. You destroyed your only child. And you destroyed the last chance to break our family’s curse.”
She wept openly, her body shaking. “Your father and I worked for years to keep you alive, and Seraphina sacrificed herself for you. And you ruined it all with your hate.”
Damien stared at her, his mind a storm. For the first time in years, he felt the weight of guilt suffocating him.
Chapter 5
