His touch, his kiss, his words, they are a confusing tapestry of terror and a strange, dangerous allure. My body still remembers the heat of his, the taste of his lips. It’s a betrayal, a weakness I despise.How can I feel anything but revulsion for the man who has taken everything from me?
But then I remember my father’s journal. The way he saved it from Evilin’s destructive rage. The way he looked at me, truly looked at me, and saw the pain I tried so desperately to hide. Evilin never saw me. She saw a rival, a reflection of her own fading beauty. My father saw his daughter. Kaden… Kaden sees something else. Something possessive, yes, but also something… cherished.
My mind drifts back to Evilin. Her obsession with beauty, with youth, with being the"fairest."I remember her late-night conversations with her own reflection, her voice growing shrill, her arguments with an unseen entity. Sometimes, she would laugh maniacally, other times she would weep, convinced her reflection was mocking her. As a child, I thought she was simply vain, talking to herself. As I grew older, I understood it was something far darker, a sickness that twisted her perception of reality. Her "magic mirror" was a cruel manifestation of her own fractured mind.
Kaden knows Evilin. He knows her cruelty. He knows the marks she left on me. He promised she would pay. The thought sends a shiver through me, a mix of fear and a grim satisfaction. Evilin deserves to suffer.But at what cost?
I trace a pattern on the condensation on the glass wall. My reflection stares back, pale and drawn, but with a new intensity in my eyes. I am no longer the terrified girl who fled through the woods. I am still terrified, yes, but something has shifted. I am in Kaden’s world now. And if I am to survive, I need to understand its rules. His rules.
My gaze falls upon a small, delicate bird, perched on a branch just outside the glass. It cocks its head, its bright eyes studying me. It’s a wild thing, free to come and go as it pleases. A pang of longing, sharp and acute, shoots through me.
I am not free. But I am alive. And for the first time in a very long time, I am not under Evilin’s thumb. This is a new kind of cage, yes, but perhaps… perhaps it offers a different kind of survival.
A heavy sigh escapes my lips. I need to eat. I need to regain my strength. I need to think. Kaden wants me to be strong. He wants me to thrive. He wants me to accept my captivity.
And I will. But not for him. For me. Because if I am to escape, if I am to ever reclaim my life, I cannot be broken. I will play hisgame. I will learn his rules. And then, when he least expects it, I will find my way out of this glass coffin.
Nineteen
Kaden
Iwatchherfromthehidden camera feed in the conservatory. She sits on the stone bench, her curvy figure a soft contrast amidst the riot of green. Her shoulders areslumped, her head bowed. She clutches that worn journal to her chest like a shield.
My lips twitch. She thinks she’s alone. She thinks she has privacy. She has neither. In my world, privacy is a luxury I reserve only for myself. And even then, it’s an illusion.
She traces patterns on the glass, her reflection staring back at her. Skin white as snow, lips red as blood, hair black as ebony. The words my mother used to whisper to me as a child, from the Grimm’s tales, now apply to her. She is the fairest. And Evilin, the wretched queen, will never hold a candle to her full, vibrant beauty.
My mother. She would have loved the conservatory. She would have seen the beauty in Wynter, too. But she would have warned me. Warned me about the dangers of obsession, about the fragility of beauty, about the cost of claiming what is not truly yours. But my mother is gone. And I am my father’s son, a man who takes what he wants.
I watch as a small bird lands on the glass, its bright eyes studying her. A pang of something akin to jealousy, sharp and unwelcome, shoots through me. Even the wild creatures are drawn to her. She has a connection to nature, a purity that I, in my dark world, can only observe from a distance. She is the forest princess, and I am the hunter who brought her home.
She sighs, a long, weary sound that reaches me even through the muted audio feed. She is tired. But she is not broken. Not yet. The fire is still there, simmering beneath the surface. I saw it in her eyes when she defied me at breakfast. I felt it in her body when she responded to my kiss. She fights. Good. I prefer a challenge.
My phone buzzes. It’s Alrik.
“Sir, the Emily Carter file is complete. And we have a problem.”
“Speak,” I command, my eyes still fixed on Wynter’s image on the screen.
“Evilin Blanc has put out a substantial bounty for Wynter’s return. She’s using her old connections in the city. The word is, she’s frantic. She’s telling everyone Wynter was kidnapped.”
A cold smile touches my lips. “Good. Let her be frantic. Let her spend her money. It will only make her fall harder.”
“The problem, sir,” Alrik continues, his voice grim, “is that she’s specifically targeting Wynter’s friend, Emily Carter. She’s convinced Emily knows where Wynter is. She’s offering a reward for information leading to Emily’s whereabouts, and a much larger one for Emily herself.”
My jaw clenches. Evilin. Always predictable. Always cruel. She sees Emily as the "magic mirror" that might reveal Wynter's location.
“Is Emily safe?” I demand, my voice sharper than I intend. The thought of Evilin’s filthy hands touching anyone connected to Wynter, especially given her history of body-shaming and control over Wynter's diet, sends a surge of possessive rage through me.
“For now,” Alrik replies. “My men have her under discreet surveillance. She’s at her apartment. Unaware of the bounty on her head.”
“Unaware?” I scoff. “That won’t last. Evilin will escalate. She always does.”
I lean back in my chair, my mind racing. This complicates things. I wanted Emily as leverage, a silent threat. But if Evilin goes after her, it could expose Wynter’s location, or worse, put Emily in genuine danger. And if Emily is harmed, Wynter will never forgive me. Her trust, fragile as it is, would shatter completely.
“Bring Emily Carter here,” I order, my decision made.
Alrik hesitates. “Sir? The compound’s security protocols… bringing an outsider in…”
