Sera's POV
"Ma! I'm off!" I yelled, bursting through the front door, the hinges squealing.
"Sera, for God's sakes—take it easy!" came my mum's exasperated voice from inside the house.
I rolled my eyes but smiled. "You say that every time I breathe too loud, Ma!" I shouted back, standing on the front steps with the morning sun warming my face. The light felt different today—more alive, like it had been waiting just for me.
My heart thudded in my chest, each beat a burst of pure, irrepressible joy.
You might be wondering what's got me so excited. Today—finally—my mother had allowed me to release my wings. Not literally.
Today's flight was just a bus ride away—but it might as well have been freedom.
I'd never been allowed to do the things normal kids did. I'd watched them from my window—girls my age sneaking out to meet boys, laughing too loudly, living too easily. Meanwhile, I was the ghost girl next door.
I had to dye my hair from white to black to "blend in," as Mum called it. I was homeschooled, supervised. Mum said "very bad people" would hurt me if they found me, but she never said who. Or why.
"Remember to keep your head down," Mum said suddenly behind me. I hadn't even heard her approach. "Don't talk to strangers. And when you get to the Blackwood Estate, ask for the butler. He is the one to arrange the payment."
"The Blackwood Estate…" I repeated softly. Everyone in our town whispered about the Blackwoods.
"Do not go inside," Mum continued sharply. "Collect the money and come back home. I'll ask Lina to wait for you at the bus stop."
Lina—my one and only friend. She lived next door, worked at a café part-time. She was also my only link to the outside world, and the only person Mum tolerated near me.
"Now go," she urged me.
"See ya, Mum!" I called.
"I love you!" she shouted.
"Love you too!" I yelled back, not daring to turn around. If I saw her face one more time, she might change her mind, and I couldn't handle another round of "It's not safe out there, Sera." My mother had a way of undoing my freedom with a single worried look.
The stairs down from our apartment creaked. I took them two at a time.
Mum had always handled the deliveries herself. But last week, she'd slipped on the back steps. Landed on a nail and sprained her leg. That accident, for once, had bought me a slice of freedom.
The thought made me grin as I jogged the last block toward the bus stop. Freedom had a sound today—the low whine of the arriving bus brakes, the shuffle of commuters, the buzz of the town.
Eric's POV
"Mum? Did you… did you drug me?" I hiccupped. I staggered on my feet after breakfast, fingers braced against the chair as if it might explain my sudden weakness.
My mum let out a harrumph. She reached out, steadying me with two hands on my forearms. "Eric, you know I would never do anything to hurt you," she said. "But this has to end."
Heat crawled under my skin in a way the wine didn't account for. My erection, inconvenient and impossible to ignore, burned with an awkward, humiliating pressure.
"You put it in the blood sausage, didn't you?" I blurted. I love blood sausages and my mother had just ruined it for me.
"Sweetie, you need an heir," she said, helping me set my feet beneath me properly as if she were coaching a child through the first time on a horse.
"And I told you, you're not getting one. At least not from me."
"Hence, the drugging." Her fingers tightened briefly. "I have secured a young lady from the Duvall family. Strong bloodline. She is—" She paused. "—suitable. She will be here soon. And you will sleep with her."
A maid swept past. She passed within arm's reach, she bowed slightly before continuing on her walk. I had seen her countless times in the estate and yet right then, she seemed like the sexiest woman in the world.
I watched idly as the maid's uniform hugged the line of her hips; and I imagined my swollen cock buried deep inside that ass. Fuck! What did my mother give me?
My mother groaned dramatically beside me. "Let's get you inside before you actually start humping the maids, Eric," she muttered, looping her arm through mine. My body was on fire—skin buzzing, pupils dilated, my cock straining against my trousers.
"I'm not doing it, Mum," I hissed.
Her grip tightened. "You will. I've hidden every condom in your bedroom, and in the whole estate. You cannot be the last of our line, Eric. Do you hear me?"
"I'd rather jump off the bloody roof!" I snapped. My vision flickered red for an instant; the heat from the drug felt like it was eating my veins from the inside out. I could smell the heat of the servants in the hallway. Everything was too sharp, too vivid.
"Eric Maxwell Blackwood!" she thundered. "Don't you dare scare your mother like that."
We finally reached my room. "Mum, please," I said. "You killed Father because you couldn't stand what he had become. You know I'm the same. You want me to bring a child that will be the same into this world?"
My hands were shaking as I pressed them against the doorframe.
Her face softened then, just a fraction. "The curse will break someday, love," she murmured, brushing my damp hair back from my forehead. "We just have to be patient. We just have to survive until then."
I sighed and collapsed back onto my bed. The sheets were cool against my fevered skin, but it did nothing to ease the pulse between my legs. I stared up at the ceiling. My erection pointed stubbornly upward, a cruel reminder of the drug's effect and my mother's plan.
"She will be here soon," my mother said softly. "A young lady from the Duvall family. Strong bloodline, chosen for you." She straightened. The heavy door shut with a thud, and I heard the lock slide into place—a soft, final sound that made my gut twist.
I was alone now.
This was my mother's last resort to make me produce an heir. If there was truly a merciful goddess, she would not grant my mother's wish. I have to be the last cursed Blackwood. I have to be.