**Author's Note – Unstoppable Aish 💋🕯️**
My sinful little ShadowHearts, welcome back. Last time, the mirror almost told the truth—but shadows often twist it first. Before you move forward, remember: what feels like love might be an echo… or a haunting.
Light a candle, keep your heartbeat steady, and follow me deeper.
---
**Brief Recap of Chapter 8:**
Aanya finally dared to question the House's memories. Her growing connection with Veer took a tender, unexpected turn. But just as warmth settled, a whisper came from the cracked painting—a whisper that said, *"She never left."* The chapter ended with Aanya discovering a burnt diary under the staircase, signed by… Naira.
---
**Aanya's POV**
The diary smelled like fire.
Every page was edged with ash, its spine brittle but intact—as if it had fought death just to reach her. Aanya held it close, her pulse beating through her fingers.
She flipped to the first page.
*"He doesn't know I'm still here."*
*—Naira Verma*
Her breath hitched. Naira. The name danced in every corridor of this cursed place.
Suddenly, a cold wind kissed her cheek.
The hallway mirror—long, antique, its silver peeling—had fogged over. But there was no heat in the air.
Aanya turned slowly.
And then—
There were two of her.
One in the real world. One in the mirror. But the one in the mirror was smiling.
"I loved him too, Aanya."
The voice came from behind her. Not a whisper this time, but soft, broken—like tears turned into syllables.
She spun around.
No one.
But the pendant around her neck grew cold again.
---
**Veer's POV**
He watched Aanya from the top of the stairs.
She didn't know he saw the diary. Or the way her shoulders trembled while reading it.
His silver ring—warm to the touch earlier—now burned cold.
"Don't open her story," his mother had once warned.
"If Naira speaks again, the House will demand its due."
But Veer remembered Naira.
He remembered her song. Her smile. Her scream.
He remembered the ritual.
*The one Aanya was never supposed to witness.*
---
**Flashback: The False Wedding**
Three years ago.
White lilies. Crimson veil. Naira standing beneath the chandelier that never stopped creaking. Veer beside her—his hand trembling.
But it wasn't a wedding. It was a binding.
Naira had offered herself to trap the curse within the House. A fake marriage to seal time, sacrifice youth, and keep the House asleep.
But someone had broken the circle.
And Naira vanished that night.
All that remained was her burnt veil—and the mirror that started crying.
---
**Back to Present – Aanya**
"Who was she to you?"
Her voice was ice when she asked. Veer hadn't heard her come up.
He turned. His eyes unreadable.
"She was the silence I chose over truth."
Aanya stepped closer. The diary clutched to her chest like a shield.
"And who am I?"
"You're the truth that won't let me sleep."
Silence.
"Did you love her?"
Veer hesitated.
"I tried to."
He took her hand.
"But she loved me like a shadow. And you... you're the storm."
---
** – Later That Night**
Aanya wandered back into the mirror room. The one that had once cracked when Veer said her name.
Now it pulsed faintly—as if waiting.
She touched the glass.
Suddenly—her reflection blinked.
Twice.
Out of rhythm.
"You shouldn't have come back," the reflection said.
Aanya fell back.
The mirror girl stepped out.
Not a ghost. Not a hallucination.
A shadow. Her shadow.
But dressed in a wedding gown—burnt edges, blackened lace.
"You loved him wrong," the shadow hissed.
"Now *I* get to try."
---
**Veer's POV – Simultaneously**
The ring began bleeding.
Not with blood. With ink. Dark, ancient symbols leaking from beneath the stone.
He ran.
The House had begun again.
---
Aanya backed into the corridor.
The shadow walked forward.
"Tell him goodbye for me."
She raised a burnt hand—held a black veil.
And then...
Veer appeared.
"Don't touch her!" he screamed.
The shadow turned.
Their faces matched.
Their eyes didn't.
Aanya was between them now.
Two Veers.
One burning. One cold.
And she had to choose.
---
**Ending Author's Note – Unstoppable Aish 🖤🕊️**
My brave, haunted ShadowHearts…
The mirror has opened. The shadows are free. And Aanya must now choose between the real and the reflection.
Tell me: Who do *you* think the real Veer is?
What would you do if love had a shadow twin?
Next Chapter: *"Don't Open That Door"* will tear the seams of this reality further. More secrets, deeper romance, and mirror games that demand blood.
Sleep with your lights off… or maybe don't.
— Aish 🕷️ Your Queen of Storm-Laced Shadows