Chapter 54 – The Hunger's Claim
The silence that followed Adrian's trembling collapse was not a silence at all. It was a pulse, a breath, a steady rhythm that came not from the walls of the House but from within him. The shard throbbed in his chest like a second heart, faster, louder, almost mocking his attempt at restraint.
Cassia still held him, arms tight, her face pressed against his shoulder. Her heartbeat was steady against his chest, a fragile counterpoint to the shard's chaotic rhythm. She whispered, over and over, as if words alone might bind him back into himself.
"You're still you. You're still you."
But Selene's low laugh cut through the air, sultry and edged with something sharp. She crouched in front of him, tilting her head, dark hair spilling forward like a curtain of shadow and flame. "He's not, Cassia. Not anymore. Can't you feel it? The shard has tasted his weakness. It has claimed a piece of him. He's changing."
Adrian lifted his head slowly, sweat dripping down his temple. His throat felt dry, parched, as though he had swallowed fire. And when his eyes met Selene's, a spark leapt between them, undeniable, alive. He hated it—and yet a part of him craved more.
"I didn't give in," he rasped, though the words felt hollow even to him.
Selene leaned closer, her lips brushing the air between them. "No… you only faltered. You touched the edge of surrender. And once the edge has tasted you…" She reached out, her fingertip barely grazing the mark over his heart. The shard surged in response, a hot flash that made him flinch. "…it will never let go."
The House seemed to agree. The mirrors around them shuddered, their surfaces rippling like liquid. Reflections multiplied—Adrian clutching Cassia, Adrian pressed against Selene, Adrian consumed by faceless shadows that dripped desire like honey. Each reflection shimmered with hunger, each one whispering a different outcome, a different indulgence.
Cassia's grip on him tightened. "Ignore it. It's lies. All of it. Don't look." Her voice was fierce, but her hands trembled.
Adrian tried to close his eyes, but the shard burned behind his eyelids, imprinting the visions into his mind. He saw himself on his knees before Selene, saw himself reaching for Cassia with desperate hunger, saw himself tangled in shadows that promised power and ecstasy. His breath quickened, his body betraying him again.
Selene leaned closer still, her voice a low purr in his ear. "You feel it, don't you? The hunger inside you. You can starve it for a while… but it will always return. Stronger. Deeper. Until it consumes you."
Cassia pulled him back, desperation breaking through her calm. "He's not yours, Selene! He's stronger than that!"
Selene's smile sharpened. "Stronger? You saw how easily he trembled. How quickly he reached for me. Your gentle hands won't save him from what he truly is."
The shard pulsed again, harder this time, and Adrian cried out, clutching his chest. Heat exploded through his veins, desire coursing like wildfire. His vision blurred. For a moment, he couldn't tell if Cassia or Selene held him. Every touch felt too much—too warm, too intimate, too right.
The mirrors trembled. The floor itself seemed to breathe beneath them, the House feeding on his falter, growing stronger with every pulse.
Adrian forced his hands against the ground, pushing himself up. His knees shook, his body weak, but he stood, chest heaving, eyes blazing with something between defiance and hunger.
"No more," he said, though his voice cracked. "I won't… I won't be your puppet. Not yours. Not the shard's. Not this cursed House."
Selene's laughter was low, dangerous. "We'll see."
The shard pulsed once more—then suddenly stilled, as though listening. The silence that followed was heavier than before, the kind that pressed against eardrums, the kind that came before a storm.
And then the House shifted. The mirrors cracked, splintering into a thousand shards that rained to the floor like jagged crystal teeth. The air thickened, heavy with the scent of roses and ash. Shadows poured from the cracks in the walls, twisting, writhing, reaching.
Cassia screamed, clutching Adrian's arm. "It's waking! You gave it what it wanted—it's stronger now!"
Adrian's eyes widened as the shadows coiled around his ankles, tugging with a hunger that felt almost physical. The shard inside him pulsed in sync, not resisting, but inviting.
Selene rose smoothly, her smile dangerous and alive. "Good. Let it come. Let it show you what you really are."
Adrian's body trembled, torn between the warmth of Cassia's arms and the burning allure of Selene's challenge. The shard beat like a second heart, whispering promises of power, desire, and ruin.
And as the shadows closed in, the truth struck him:
This was only the beginning of his fall.