Aurora’s POV

    I could feel my heartbeat faster in my chest as I looked at Ashton. I had to know the truth, and I had to know it now. The air around us felt charged, like a storm was brewing. I couldn’t hold back any longer, not after everything I’d witnessed, everything I’d been through.

    “Why is he doing this?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper, trembling despite myself. “What the hell is wrong with lucas? Is he some kind of psychopath?”

    Ashton shook his head, his eyes holding the same pent up fear and anger as did Maggie. “He calls himself a Wizard Scientist.” He scoffed. “He says he’s working on something big, something that will change the world. But we don’t know, Aurora. We’re in the same boat as you. We’re all his prisoners, his to do as we please.”

    Maggie, who had been sitting quietly beside us, finally spoke up. “It’s not just a science project, Aurora. Lucas is… he’s trying to create a new breed of children, ones that will carry on his legacy. He believes these children will be the key to immortality. Real immortality. No aging, no death.”

    1 felt my stomach twist. “Children? He’s been… experimenting on children?” My voice cracked, the horror of it settling over me like a suffocating weight.

    Ashton’s eyes softened, but there was a bitterness in his words. “It’s not just about the children. It’s about creating something… perfect. He wants to make the ultimate being. He’s not a big talker but sometimes, he says things and from what we had gathered, he had previous children too. Failed experiments. But this new batch…” Ashton hesitated, his gaze flicking toward Maggie, who looked just as horrified as him.

    Maggie’s face was pale, and when she finally spoke, her voice was barely audible. “I heard Lucas and Harmona talking once. They… they think the others were mistakes. They believe the new batch will be perfect. That’s why they’re so… determined to push forward.”

    I looked from Maggie to Ashton, and then back at Maggie. The truth was unbearable. The weight of it all felt like it was crushing me, like I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t know what to say, what to think. Was it even possible for someone to go this far, to treat lives like experiments?

    Not just lives…children! Lucas’s own children. He had to be some kind of special psychopath to have done something so heartless and still continue to do so. Inparison to him…my step–father, seemed like a

    saint.

    Lucas went around targeting women, he went around hunting them, stalking them and then he…

    I couldn’t hold back the disgust that boiled inside me as I stared at ss coffin of my mother. My stomach churned, and I nearly gagged. This was my blood? My rtives? The thought alone made my skin crawl. ‘I can’t believe I’m rted to such a filthy man,‘ I spat, my voice trembling with a mix of fury and disbelief. “He makes my father look like a saint inparison. At least he had some dignity. He- I had to stop myself, the words catching in my throat. There was too much hatred, too much anger, and not enough space to fit it all in. “God…I…oh god…”

    第37b%/bb. /b

    They didn’t say anything at first, letting my words hang in the air like a bad smell. Then, Ashton stepped closer, taking my trembling hands in his. “Aurora, we’re not the ones at fault here,” he said, his voice low but firm, like he was trying to keep me calm. “We’re bound to him. By magic. We can’t do anything about it. Trust me, if we could, we would’ve stopped him by now. But we can’t escape, and our magic is useless in

    this house.”

    1 red at him, not caring for the excuse. My thoughts were spinning, the anger fogging my mind, but something started to click. I was shaking my head, struggling to understand how I had been so blind. The mark behind my ear–the one that had appeared recently. I never really understood what it was until now- it was the key. It wasn’t just a mark. No, it was a leash. A barrier. It was stopping me from using my magic. It was stopping all of us.

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