Recognition slammed into me. “Giulia,” I whispered, my voice breaking on the name.
The doll had belonged to my younger sister. Its presence here was an impossible, horrifying revelation. Memories of her laughter, her innocence, flashed through my mind, colliding with the cold reality of what I was now certain of. My father had sacrificed her—her soul, her essence—to maintain our family’s pact with the goddess. Then, he had bound his soul to this vessel.
Vivian moved to stand beside me, her hand brushing against my arm. “Raffaele,” she said softly, pulling me back from the abyss. “What is it?”
“It’s hers. This doll… it was Giulia’s. He sacrificed her. He… he killed his own daughter.”
My hand trembled as it hovered over the porcelain figure. The energy radiating from it was dark and consuming, but I needed to touch it, to confirm what I already knew.
Before my fingers could graze the doll, a biting voice echoed through the chamber.
“Well, well,” it drawled, sending a chill down my spine. “My prodigal son dares to descend into the depths of his own inheritance.”
I turned sharply, my shadows coiling around me instinctively. There he stood—Lord Thorne. His presence was as imposing as ever, his dark eyes gleaming with a mixture of amusement and malice.
“Do you know how long I’ve waited for this moment, Raffaele?” he continued, stepping closer with deliberate, measured steps. “Watching, knowing it would come? You’ve always thought yourself clever, but here you are—fumbling for power you barely understand. Pathetic.”
“Father,” I spat, my voice laced with venom. “You are a fucking coward.”
He chuckled darkly, the sound reverberating through the chamber. Taking a step closer, his gaze shifted to the doll. “You think you can destroy me, boy? That porcelain trinket won’t save you. Do you truly believe the magic I weaved can be undone with a simple touch? You inherited my blood, my magic, my legacy, but not my strength. You are nothing without me.”
“Wrong,” I snarled, stepping between him and Vivian, my shadows writhing with newfound power. “I am everything without you.”
He tilted his head, his smile sharp and condescending. “We’ll see about that.”
My father failed to realize I wasn’t the boy he had molded in his image. I was the man who had risen above him, the man who had chosen love and loyalty over power and fear.
And I would end him.
I took my opportunity and lunged for the doll. It felt fragile beneath my fingers, its porcelain surface unnervingly smooth as I snatched it from the pedestal. Dark energy coursed through my hand, a last desperate defense woven into its cursed existence. My father’s laughter echoed through the chamber as I dropped the doll onto the cold stone floor.
With every ounce of my rage, I stomped on the doll’s head, shattering its delicate features into a spray of jagged fragments. The room shuddered, a deep tremor shaking the stone walls, but my father’s laughter only grew louder, more maniacal.
“You fool!” His voice reverberated like a thunderclap. He stepped closer, his dark robes billowing as if carried by an unseen wind. “Did you truly think it would be that easy? A single stomp, and I’d vanish into the void? Pathetic.”
I gritted my teeth, my shadows rippling around me in defiance. “You bound your power to this thing! It’s done!”
“Is it?” he sneered, his dark eyes narrowing. “You’ve inherited my blood, Raffaele, but you lack my understanding. This is merely a vessel, a distraction for the likes of you—a child playing with forces beyond his comprehension.”
I braced myself as his power surged, the air growing colder with his wrath. He raised his hand, and a jagged wave of energy crashed into me, slamming me into the stone wall. Pain ricocheted through my body, but with my full power restored, I absorbed it, gritting my teeth against the impact.
“I am no child,” I spat, pushing off the wall, my shadows roaring to life. “I am your end.”
Across the room, I could see Vivian. Though still hidden by the illusion I had cast, she was as clear to me as if she stood in the open. Her expression was a mixture of fear and determination, her gaze darting between me and my father as her fingers danced over her laptop’s keys. In her lap, the Mirror of Truths gleamed faintly, reflecting her focused eyes.
Our bond pulsed, her worry surging into me. I could feel her desperate desire to help, to find a way to tip the scales in my favor.
Then her eyes widened.
“Raffaele! Your blood!”
My father’s head snapped toward her voice, his eyes narrowing with dangerous clarity. The air grew heavier, darker, as his fury turned toward her.
“Ah,” he hissed, his lips curling into a cruel smile. “Your little human wife. What a mistake it was to bring her here. You’re even more of a fool than I thought.”
I moved to shield her, my shadows flaring defensively, but his attention was locked on her presence. The illusion didn’t matter now—he knew she was there.
My father’s voice grew cold, venom dripping from every word. “Look at you. Desperate, weak, clinging to notions of freedom. Did you think she made you stronger? That human girl you tethered yourself to? She made you soft, Raffaele. She made you vulnerable. And for what? To watch her break under the weight of our world? You’ve already failed her.”
