The Devil's Vow

to press down with weight, as if the mansion itself were watching, judging. The ornate room, full of rich velvet curtains and intricately carved furniture, fel

versation with Luca-the coldness in his words, the heavy burden of their shared fate. The curse. The blood oath. The promise of destruction. Every part of her want

less stillness. Time was not

and with it came the realization that her life had irrevocably shifted. She was no longer the daughter of

from her trance. A figure stepped inside, silhoue

he asked, his voic

their marriage was a practical arrangement, one of convenience. And yet, here he was, standing in he

eplied, her voice h

ething in his gaze-an unreadable flicker-that made her stomach tighten. He wasn't just he

ow, like a man who had been carrying an unseen burden

"You've told me enough already. I understand the curse. I understand what we'

furrowed.

If the curse is real, and the union between our families brings only death

at the distant horizon, as if the answer were somewhere out there,

e a choice.

he bed, standing only a few feet away from him now. "You always have a choice. You may

though there was a flicker of something softer b

ce gravelly. "If it were that simple,

sinister than his family's expectations. His every action was tethered to the history of their bloodlines, the

room was the low crackle of the fire, the distant murmur of the

le. "There's a lot more at stake here than you realize," he said quietly, his voice lowering with a note of regret. "I

who they all were yet. Her father's disgrace had brought more than just shame to the Moret

hardening. "Do you want me to play the part of the duti

on't expect you to pretend. But you need to under

s this marriage just a stage, a delicate dance of

toward the door. He stopped just short of cr

ard her. "Something I haven't told you about your father's past. It's a

kipped a beat. "W

his words carrying a weight far he

h the Romani woman who cursed our families. A deal that went

d, secretive father-had made a deal with the very force that ha

him, leaving Alessia to piece together the shattered

er than she had