That pause was all he needed.
A crushing blow cracked into the side of my skull. The world tilted. My knees gave way. Blood ran warm and slick down my face.
The crowd howled—but I couldn’t hear them. Not over the ringing in my ears. Not over the memories trying to claw their way out.
I dropped under another swing and drove my shadows into his knee, sending him crashing down. My fist followed—a blur of darkness to the back of his head. He slumped forward, out cold.
The chanting rose again—Shadow, Shadow, Shadow—but it sounded distant. Like it belonged to someone else.
I staggered off the fighting ground, one hand pressed to my temple. The blood was sticky. My vision doubled.
Something flickered at the edges—shapes, light, voices. A woman. A song.
Another jolt of pain cracked through my skull. I gasped—
And then hands caught me.
“Princess…”
A whisper. Gentle. Impossible.
I blinked up—and saw her. Blurred by blood and pain, but unmistakable.
That same soft face. The eyes. The kindness that didn’t belong here.
My heart stuttered.
“…Liora?” I breathed.
She smiled. Sad. Knowing.
“You’re dead,” I whispered.
But the moment I said it, the world folded inward.
Not down—butback.Into memory.
**
“Now, now, Miss Elira. Stay still,” came the gentle but firm voice.
I squirmed on the velvet-cushioned stool, arms crossed tight across my chest. “I hate this. It hurts.”
Liora hummed softly, running the brush through my tangled hair with as much care as she could muster—but it still felt like she was tearing through it with a tree branch.
“It wouldn’t hurt so much if you didn’t go to bed with leaves in it,” she murmured, trying to soothe.
“My room has barely any windows. What else am I supposed to look at except the dirt?”
The room around us was dim, always dim. He didn’t like me having windows open. He said someone might see me. That I was for his eyes only.
So, I had my little room. My tiny garden. And her.
Liora.
My nanny. My protector. The only warmth in this cold place.
“You know he likes to see you looking pretty, Miss Elira,” she said softly. “We don’t want another incident like last time, do we?”
