I would not sit here and accept my fate. No—I would fight until my last breath. This wasn’t just about me, or pride, or survival. It was about Kallias, our babe, Radaan’s future.
My legs refused to carry me. Strength drained out of them as if someone had sliced the cords behind my knees. I staggered into the dresser, hip striking hard wood, breath bursting from my lungs. The frame rattled against the wall. I dug my fingers into its carved edge and shoved, dragging it inch by inch toward the narrow window. The legs scraped across the floorboards with a harsh groan.
I could climb it—reach the sill. Tear the curtains down. Throw myself through glass and air.
The thought shattered as quickly as it formed. The window loomed far above, a slit of pale light set cruelly high. Even stacked furniture would not grant freedom. The distance mocked me.
A scream ripped from my throat, raw and feral. It scraped the walls bare. I planted my feet and heaved again. Wood protested. Muscles burned. Fresh pain flared across my back where scabs split and stretched.
I would not fold.
They would have to bind me. Chain wrists and ankles. Force submission from me with iron and rope. I would not bow at their command.
I was Draconis.
The thought blazed through my chest like flame catching dry timber. Heat pulsed in my blood, a memory of wings and fire and open skies. My reflection trembled in the warped mirror above the dresser, hair tangled, skin pale, eyes wild.
“Stop.”
The command sliced through the room.
His voice.
It coiled around my spine, familiar and devastating. It haunted my sleep, lingered in the fragile space between hope and despair. Each syllable had once lifted me higher than any dragon’s flight.
Now it held me frozen in place.
No. No more tricks—no more games.
“Shut up!” I hurled my weight into the dresser again. Wood screeched against stone. It shifted a fraction. My foot slipped. The sharp edge caught my temple, and the room tilted as I crumpled to the floor.
“Nienna!”
Arms wrapped around me, crushing tight against my shredded back.
That scent… cinnamon. Sunshine. My mind split down the middle. Something inside me snapped under the strain. Had Egath poisoned me? Slipped madness into my blood with those careful kisses?
A broken sound left me as I twisted away from the pain. Hands lifted me, laying me on the bed. I rolled onto my stomach, breath sawing in and out, cheek pressed to linen that smelled of sweat and blood. My limbs trembled with the effort of simply existing. Fire streaked across my back, a brutal map etched in scarlet.
Weight settled beside me. The bed bowed under it.
Only Tallon or Egath would dare.
Tallon was here.
I squeezed my eyes shut and braced for another cruelty.
“Nienna, please.”
The words unraveled me.
How could he do that? How could he sound so much like Kallias?
It was impossible.
“I swear to Elohios, Veridis, and all that is holy, I will burn their kingdom to ash myself.”
My eyes flew open. I lurched upright, vision swaying, pain flaring.
