Chapter 13

Scarlett’s POV

The night was dark and suffocating, as though the shadows themselves were closing in around me. I was running, my heart pounding in my chest as I tried to escape the suffocating grasp of the trees that twisted and bent unnaturally. The forest was alive, moving with a dark energy that pulsed with the curse.

The man... he was here. I could feel him.

His cold, Harsh voice echoed through the trees. “You can’t run from me, Scarlett. You can’t run from your fate.”

I stumbled, falling to the ground as his shadow came over me. I looked up, seeing nothing but darkness, yet feeling his presence all around me. His fingers, cold and sharp, grasped my throat, squeezing the breath from my lungs.

“You will have to choose,” he hissed, his voice shouting into my ears like an echo. “And when you do, everything you love will be destroyed.”

I tried to scream, but no sound came out. My body was frozen, paralyzed by the choking of the man's hand and the curse.

This is a dream. It has to be