Chapter 3 - THE KEY
William’s car was parked two blocks away. Lilith took the wheel while Bella pressed fresh towels against his wound in the back seat.
“Start talking,” Bella said.
William took a breath. “My family made a deal a thousand years ago. A Norman heir could have power, land, money. But no children. Lilith was bound to each heir.”
“For what?”
“To make sure none of us forgot the deal.”
Lilith glanced at him in the mirror. “That is the kindest way anyone has ever put it.”
William held up the key. “I stole this because I found a page of the original contract. There’s a clause my family buried.”
“What clause?”
“I don’t know. I need the key to read it.”
Lilith turned down a narrow street. “And the collector needs it to stop you.”
At William’s house, Bella expected guards and gold furniture. Instead she found a quiet kitchen, a broken clock on the wall, and a dog asleep under the table. William introduced the dog as Frank. Frank immediately chose Bella.
She stayed until morning. Then she stayed another day because William’s wound kept reopening whenever Lilith tried to remove the black marks around it. Bella was the only person who could touch them without making him cry out.
On the third night, William showed her the locked room beneath the house. Inside stood an iron cabinet covered in names.
Bella set her palm against its door. The letters glowed.
William stared. “It’s never done that.”
The cabinet opened before either of them turned the key. Inside lay a single sheet of paper.
Lilith read it and went pale.
“Well?” Bella demanded.
Lilith folded the page. “There is a way to end the curse.”
May you like
William reached for it. Lilith held it out of reach.
“There’s also a price,” she said. “And Bella is the one who pays it.”
