Book 3 of The Divided Kingdom (untitled)

I don't want to give too much away about this project. What I'll say is it's inspired by The Labyrinth, Phantom of the Opera, and a nightmare I had as a child. Here's a little excerpt:

“There’s something exquisitely beautiful about blood on snow. The way the drops spread and seep into the crystals; staining them and taking their purity.” He turns away from the blood splatter and looks upon me. “It’s like you that day at the fountain; crumpling roses and splashing water on your dress. You desired a ruination and that’s when I knew I desired you.” 

Snowflakes dance between us and he catches one on his palm. 

“You may think you’re like the snow,” he continues. “Pure and pristine.” The snowflake doesn’t melt, instead he closes his fist around it. “But you’re the blood. Not pure, not innocent. You crave destruction. I felt the excitement course through your veins when I was inside you. You loved the power, the unleashing of the rage. You loved making him suffer.” 

Images of my knife ripping through Victor’s flesh overtakes the fall of the snow around us and I’m left unsure if it’s my own memories my mind is conjuring or if he’s placing them there. Making me relive it. And then his hands are upon me, his touch gentle and pulling me back to the woods and the snow. And it’s his eyes—black and fathomless—that I see now. 

“That doesn’t mean you’re damaged,” he says. His hand drops from my face and settles on my chest, just above my rapidly beating heart. “It means you’re alive and capable of leaving your mark on all you touch. You can lie to yourself, but you feel the falsehood in your own narrative.” He drops his hand and backs away from me, but his eyes don’t leave mine. “And that’s why you’ll eventually stay. You’ll stay because you desire this.” Suddenly, everything starts to go black and I feel myself being pulled away from him, back to my own body. But, before I open my eyes, his voice finds me once more. 

“You’ll stay because I’m the blood, too.”