Torin leaned in, voice low and sure.
“Time will tell, Tilly. You think you’re above the curse, but it’s already working on you. You’ll have no choice in the end.
“You disgust me!”
“That’s right,” he purred, “fight me. Tell me your desires. I want no timid human at my side.”
“Let me go!” I screamed again.
Torin’s grip tightened, his breath hot against my cheek. “You think you’re resisting? That’s adorable. I love resistance and so does the curse. It feeds on it.”
Seizing the moment of his amused distraction, I yanked the lamp free. He won’t see this coming. My hand closed around the brass, its weight solid and brutal. My steady grip will hit hard, then I can run. Heart hammering. I swung it in a wide arc.
The lamp’s head struck his shoulder with a sharp crack. He paused, and his grip loosened.
He’s off balance. Get away while you can, but there was nowhere to run to.
I reached the open wardrobe, I froze. Inside, sketchbooks. Drawings. Neatly arranged. What on earth? These are mine… I blinked in astonishment and hesitantly reached out to touch them, half expecting them to vanish. But they’re real.
I shook my head as though I’d awakened from another dream. This can’t be happening. Was I imagining things?
“How… how did these get here?”
Torin staggered back, hand pressed to his shoulder where the lamp had connected. For a second, shock flickered in his eyes, then he laughed. A low, throaty sound. “I applaud your aim,” he said, wincing as he straightened his cloak. “You have more fight in you than I thought. Few humans would be able to land that well on me.”
His ease irritated me, he treated my strike like sport. Twat! Next time it will be his irritating head that gets hit.
He stepped around me and moved to stand by the wardrobe.
“Now,” he murmured, voice softer, “let me show you what else I’ve brought.”
Reaching for one of my sketchbooks, I held it in my trembling hands and flicked through the pages. Drawings of the woods, mythology, my house, and my mother working in the garden brought me to tears. My chest tightened. Home had never felt so far away. A wave of homesickness overwhelmed me, and it was all I could do not to sob in front of Torin.
“How… how did these get here?” I whispered, half to myself, half to him.
Torin’s smile returned, but this time it was less predatory, more satisfied.
“I said, I had something else for you. Consider it a demonstration of our power. We went back last night and brought these to offer you comfort.”
I turned to see him standing behind me. When Cillian said they were gone and I wouldn’t be disturbed, I now knew why.
I turned to face him, the shock still settling in. “You… you went back to my house? Did you speak to my mum? Is she ok? Does she know I’m alive?”
“No. We never saw her. We slipped in through your window and quickly took what we felt you needed.”
For a moment, I was grateful they’d brought my belongings. Then I remembered, if it weren’t for him and his brothers, I wouldn’t be in this situation at all.
“The struggle with your feelings and uncertainty toward who to choose will continue, Tilly,” he said, seemingly reading my thoughts. “Despite that, I’m certain you’ll bind to me. And you’ll be mine.”
I wondered if he was being serious, or whether he and Cillian were simply further muddling the truth.
“I don’t believe you. You’re trying to manipulate and confuse me. Maybe the right choice is to make no choice at all.”
His smile faltered for a moment. “That’s not an option, Tilly. You’ll have to choose one of us eventually. Your destiny brought you here.”
“Destiny?” I scoffed. “You and your brothers are the ones who brought me here. This curse or whatever it is, it’s all a game to you.”
Torin’s gaze darkened. His playful tone vanished.
