The scent of blood and vomit filled the room as Leon, Charlotte, Luci, and Beau retched in tandem at the gruesome tragedy that had unfolded before them. Ophelia’s own stomach was churning at the feeling of Baker’s blood smeared over her face. She used the skirt of her dress to wipe her skin clean while everyone else tried to compose themselves.
“No, no, no,” Luci cried, whimpering. “This is a nightmare.”
Charlotte began to yank at her chains, equally as desperate to leave. “Fucking Hell.”
Even Cade looked sobered, his posture painfully rigid as he gawked at the gut-stained pillar that was still atop of Baker’s destroyed corpse. Ophelia hoped the heavy stone wouldn’t move and reveal more of the gruesome sight beneath.
“Luci, it’s your turn,” Ophelia encouraged, trying to rally them forward so they didn’t have to be here a second longer than necessary.
Luci was still gagging as she submitted her blood to the pool.
“Luci Veil is in love with Leon Summers.” Luci went white with terror.
Ophelia winced for the poor girl. This level was devastating.
Leon cleared his throat. “That’s false.”
Luci still didn’t speak, and Ophelia instantly knew the correct answer.
“That’s… that’s false, isn’t it?” Leon pressed.
“It’s true,” Ophelia spoke for Luci. “Answer and let’s move on.”
Leon’s expression turned pained. “Luci, no. It’s against the rules to fall in love here. It’s—”
“Press your fucking button,” Cade commanded.
Leon pressed true. Luci began to cry.
This is utterly delightful. The Shadow Voice laughed, and Ophelia immediately shoved it back out of her mind.
Meanwhile, Beau had to choose random once again, and they all watched with bated breath. When his false button sank down, the shrieking began. Beau’s was hysterical, his desperation a torture to listen to, and Ophelia plugged her ears as best she could.
Beau soiled himself as he begged and keened to be let out, trying to form the words to summon the Devil for a bargain—but he couldn’t quite get them out and it was much too late. Ophelia closed her eyes as the stone came down and crushed him. And when she reopened them, even Cade—Cade—was sobbing in horror. The game skipped right to Leon’s turn.
“Go.” Ophelia nudged Leon. “Please, for Hell’s sake, end this now.”
Leon’s hand shook as he pressed his thumb to the spike in front of him. When his message was revealed, he began to cry as well.
“Leon Summers is not in love with Luci Veil,” he choked out.
They all hit true.
Never has anyone left a room faster than Ophelia when the exit appeared, everyone else clamoring to do the same as soon as their shackles released them.
The five of them piled back into the dining room.
Five, she thought. Hell.
A series of things happened all at once then. First, Cade fainted, dropping to the floor like a sack of potatoes. But none of them paid him any mind. No, they were all too focused on whatever was happening to Luci. She had begun to convulse. Her skin flushing red as she crashed forward into the still-set table, sending platters of food and crystal glasses clattering to the ground.
“What do we do?” Leon asked, panicked.
Ophelia shook her head, at a total loss. “It’s Phantasma’s curse. Whatever magic is affecting her… it’s powerful.”
Eventually, Luci’s fit dissipated. None of them moved while she caught her breath, heaving as she tried to straighten herself up. Leon took a tentative step forward.
“Luci?” he whispered.
She looked at him with devastation. He stepped closer, reaching out to grab her hand—
—and howled in agony as soon as their skin made contact.
“No,” Luci cried. “No. No. No. This can’t be happening.”
Ophelia froze and Charlotte slowly backed away from the scene.
Leon looked appalled as he said, “What have you done, Luci?”
That made Ophelia’s blood boil.
“What has she done?” Ophelia demanded. “You’re just as much to blame! Unless she fell in love with a brick wall, I’m sure you fed into this relationship just as much as she did!”
“We had a deal,” Leon began. “We’d stop seeing each other as soon as we developed deeper feelings.”
Ophelia flinched, then looked away. “It doesn’t seem that it worked.” And she knew all too well what that was like. “But it’s done now.”
“I want to go home,” Luci sobbed. “I’m done. I’m done.”
“Luci, don’t,” Leon pleaded. “We’re so close. We’re—”
“You don’t love me,” Luci whispered, and Ophelia’s heart ached at the devastation on the girl’s face. “And I cannot bear being here a second longer. I, Lucinda Veil, surrender to Phantasma.”
Within seconds, the Devil, Phoebe, appeared.
“Time to go,” Phoebe stated as she took Luci by the shoulder.
Leon tried to grab Luci before she was transported away, but for the second time, her touch burned him, and he had to let her go. Leon plunged his hands into his hair, pulling the strands in distress. His knees hit the ground as Luci and the Devil blinked from the room.
Ophelia turned to see if Charlotte had stuck around, but she was nowhere to be seen and Cade was still unconscious on the floor.
How is this possibly my problem? she wondered as she placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“Listen—” she started, but he shook her hand off him.
“Just leave me alone,” he told her, tone numb.
She hesitated, but when his body began to shake with his silent cries, she slipped out of the room without another word.
Ophelia wandered around the manor, aimlessly, until well into the witching hours. She knew tonight there would be no sleeping—at least, none that didn’t involve nightmares—and so she distracted herself with more searching. At some point, Poe stumbled across her and decided to tag along, and Ophelia had to admit it was nice to have a companion while she worked on such a tedious task.
When she was certain she had checked nearly every nook and cranny, twice, she finally gave in and headed back to her room with Poe cradled in her arms. Arriving back in her room, she expected to find a haunt in progress, or at least the remnants of one that Blackwell hadn’t been around to clean up. What she did not expect was Blackwell himself, waiting in her armchair, his body rigid with barely concealed fury.
“Oh,” she said, dropping Poe to the ground in surprise. The feline landed nimbly on his feet, skittering back out of the room before she could shut the door.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, wary.
Blackwell stood, and somehow, she thought he took up more space than he usually did. Waving his hand in the air between them, the few tapered candles she had spread around the room ignited.
“You let him kiss you.” He looked devastated.
For a moment, his words didn’t compute in her brain. So much had happened in the last few hours that she had completely wiped from her mind the lapse of judgment she’d had with Sinclair.
“Do we really need to have this conversation?” she asked. “Which one of them told you?”
“Rayea got to me first. But, rest assured, Sinclair didn’t pass up the opportunity to taunt me with all the salacious details.” His green eyes darkened. “You let him touch you.”
Now she was angry. “And? We’re only business partners, remember? Who I do and don’t let touch me is, therefore, none of your concern.”
He closed the distance between them in two strides, bringing his hand up to rest against the door at her back. “As long as our oath is intact, you are my concern. When you put yourself in imminent danger, I’m forced to step in.”
“I was not in imminent danger,” she scoffed. “He told me he would stop as soon as I wanted him to—and he did.”
“Which is the only reason he still exists,” Blackwell snarled.
She gave a humorless laugh. “Oh, this is rich. You know, the hot and cold thing is really wearing thin. You made the decision to stop flirting with danger. I, however, made no such decision. I will do as I please.”
“Not with him. He will never touch you again.”
“And why not?” she exclaimed, chest heaving with her anger. “You won’t be touching me ever again, so why can’t someone else?”
The muscles in his cheeks contracted as he clenched his jaw, and she had a feeling if he were mortal, his teeth would have shattered. They stood there, staring at each other, the tension between them thick enough to cut with a knife.
“I can’t stand it,” he told her, his voice deepening as he fought for control of his emotions. “I can’t fucking stand the thought of him—of anyone—pleasuring you except me. I’d rather cease to exist than know you’ve looked at anyone else the way you look at me when I’m touching you.”
All the fight drained from her at the rawness laced in those words.
“Why?” she whispered. “Why are you doing this to me? This is torture, Blackwell. Worse than anything that Phantasma has put me through!”
“God fucking damn it, I don’t know.” His eyes fluttered closed as he searched for the words. “I know this is a dangerous path. I know I should have enough self-control to just stay the fuck away, but you are the only thing that’s ever made me feel even a semblance of hope in this eternity of Hell. The dream I’ve been looking for—the one to wake me up. The thought of wasting another second when I will lose you forever in only three days has ruined me. You are the closest thing I will ever get to experiencing heaven, and I’m not ready to let it go.”
“Blackwell,” she pleaded. “I just watched Luci get cursed because she fell for someone in this godforsaken place. We can’t. This back and forth… we have to stop. I can’t take it. It’s tearing me apart.”
“I know.” He opened his eyes, and she almost sobbed at the devastation she saw in them. “I know. I’ll go.”
He made to step away from her, and she rushed forward to grasp the front of his shirt before he disappeared.
“I need you to know that you are the only person who has ever made me feel like I am capable of anything,” she lamented. “The only person who has ever made me feel truly seen.” She swallowed. “Sinclair’s touch meant absolutely nothing. That’s why I let it happen.”
Her knees almost buckled at the look in his eyes. She wanted to beg the Devils, the Angels, the universe, to let her keep him for just a bit longer.
“But your touch?” Her voice broke now. “Your touch means fucking everything. And that’s why we can’t cross that line again.”
He grasped her face in his hands.
“In a different life, in a fair one, I would’ve kept you until my eternal soul withered away to dust,” he vowed to her.
Then he was gone.
