-

he Curse Ben

: K

-

ask why I li

wer is

rs don't belon

wasn't a mirror. Not really. It didn

t, the tru

something inhuman. My skin rippled for a brie

r. It always did when I broug

that someone l

na R

ched every surveillance tape, scanned her

a contra

g, bu

, yet

uti

in ways I cou

r," I muttered, draggin

coul

o Valen Tower, something shifted.

my veins bu

had burned for h

estroyed

had to be

lose

ai

-

d been inside it. Who had unlocked the secret latch,

d found t

rse sh

ispered aloud, pacing

e her da

ty was how all

always how

-

watched her f

perfectly-standing in the moonligh

inded m

o

her name. Not e

art that knew love. The part that

te had thro

for

o

aton

unis

-

d've been

ing to her, I nearly crus

always

Stirring what sho

tairs like a shad

me wanted to

I di

e

her door, my fist hover

d smel

k. Sweet. Femi

was going to ge

back and turned a

-

the candles had

symbols carved into the floo

it and let the da

sformation began-not fully, not yet-bu

a

billio

en an

ic of something t

growled to the thing ins

east didn

ly la

-

to myself tw

g on the cold stone flo

ere covere

know if i

ething

-

private study, her s

assed t

eling I knew w

ead r

arn

m t

d this whole plac

coul

id, I'd never

me in a decade, I wasn't

inking a

na R

ight be the ke

n I finally

-