**Author's Note – Your Unstoppable Queen Aish 💫🖤**
To my sinful, breathless ShadowHearts...
We're in Chapter 14, where the air turns too warm, and hearts remember what hands once forgot. If you thought the House had revealed all—it hasn't. Not even close.
This chapter breathes tension, romance, unspoken truths, and a touch of doom.
So inhale slowly. Because this time... Aanya doesn't run.
---
**Recap of Chapter 13:**
Naira's final vision scorched through Aanya's dreams. The cursed mirror nearly cracked fully. And Veer—he bled at the name *Ananta*. Yet, he still pulled her back from the edge.
Now, it's morning… but not everything wakes up with the sun.
---
**Veer's Room, Morning Light**
Aanya stirred. The bedsheet slipped slightly from her shoulder as she turned. Her head rested against a warm chest.
**Veer's chest.**
His arms were curled tightly around her, protectively. She froze, breath shallow.
The sunlight kissed their skin. His open black shirt hung off the chair nearby. The silver ring still on his finger shimmered faintly.
*"Why does this feel like home?"* she wondered silently.
Slowly, she turned her face toward him. His lashes fluttered in sleep, a lock of hair falling across his brow.
And she whispered—barely audible:
"You still love me."
His hand twitched.
"You talk in your sleep," she murmured, a soft smile threatening her lips.
But the smile died when she noticed something:
**A cut across his collarbone**, raw and recent.
She remembered last night—the moment he dropped to his knees when she whispered *Ananta*.
Veer stirred now. His eyes opened slowly. Deep brown. Burning with softness.
"You stayed," he whispered.
"You carried me," she replied, cheeks pink.
He nodded.
"You fainted in the hallway. I couldn't leave you there."
He sat up, pulling the sheet slightly higher for her.
There was a silence—comfortable, but sharp with questions.
"Veer… that name. Ananta. Why did it hurt you?"
He didn't answer immediately. He stood, reaching for the black shirt.
"Because some names… are stitched in blood."
"Who is Ananta to you?"
"Was." His voice hardened. "He was my sister."
Aanya froze.
"But your parents never mentioned—"
"Because they buried him… not just physically. Spiritually."
Veer sat again, facing her.
"He died in this house. He *vanished*, and then... the House gave him back. Wrong. Burned. Changed."
Aanya pressed her palm to her lips.
"And Naira?"
Veer's jaw clenched.
"She was the only one who tried to protect me from him. She took the curse meant for me."
---
The silence between them trembled.
Veer leaned in slowly. His fingers brushed a strand of hair from her cheek.
"I wanted to hate you," he whispered. "But all I ever did… was wait for you."
Aanya's breath shook. Their faces were inches apart.
Her voice was barely a whisper:
"Then don't wait anymore."
Veer's lips grazed hers—
—but the sound of a **knock** shattered the moment.
Three knocks.
Measured. Hollow.
Aanya gasped, stepping back.
"The doll," she whispered.
Veer turned toward the window—where the cursed porcelain doll now sat.
It hadn't been there moments ago.
---
** Return to the Garden**
Later that afternoon, Veer walked Aanya to the garden.
"We need to show you something."
"Who's we?"
He turned to the side.
**Aunt Ira stood beneath the old willow.**
"You kept secrets from her long enough," she said.
Aanya's eyes widened.
"Aunt Ira… what are you doing here?"
"I never left, dear. I was just waiting… for the House to open again."
---
Aanya entered the abandoned guest room at the back of the house. A painting covered in cloth hung crookedly.
She pulled it off.
**A portrait of Veer, Ananta, and Naira.**
All three smiling.
Until the eyes of Ananta in the painting began to **bleed.**
---
**Ending Author's Note – Aish, the Queen of Shadows & Slow-Burn 💜🕵️♀️**
Did the kiss steal your breath or the doll's knock?
Chapter 14 gave you the bond, the secrets, and the spark that's no longer deniable.
What did the portrait mean?
And why is Aunt Ira back now?
Tell me your heart didn't flutter once.
Next chapter is: The house remembers what we buried
The past bleeds. And names burn.
—Aish 💫🧘♀️🌸