UNHOLY KISS

long shadows along the stone walls. The scent of aged parchment and dust filled the a

ols within its pages taunted her, whispering secrets she could not yet comprehend. She traced her f

rking just beyond her sight. At first, she dismissed it as paranoia, but the sensa

e desk. Isolde's breath caught. This was not part of the book. With trembling ha

kiss a curse. He is bound by blood and darkness. Do not

eft this message? How long had it been hidd

nger. He had opened a door to a world she had never imagined, yet something inside her screamed t

ffed out her candle. The

ven realized she had fallen asleep, her cheek resting against t

r shoulders. When she opened the door, Draven stood

ured, stepping closer. His eyes glea

er sleeve. "A strange dream," she lied, he

shing her cheek. "Dreams hold truths w

way of pulling confessions from her, weaving them into his

wing. "Then let me bani

ingering incense from the evening mass. Draven led her through the ca

d in old books," he said. "The

u keep givin

nowledge is power, my dear Isolde. And y

ace, the way his lips curved ever so sligh

ng unreadable crossing his expression

, a silent reminder of the warning. *

n this world beyond your understanding, forces that shape destin

tic and terrifying. But f

be part of this?" she whispered.

, lifting it to his lips. The touch of his mouth was cool, lingering. "Then I w

omething deeper, more dangerous. The night closed a

edge of something irreversible. One step cl

t had always longed for the extrao

aven k