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Chapter1
Briar
The Ladybug Waltz played through the music box, and I extended my hand toward Father, waving at him playfully.
“Come dance with me,” I urged him with a bright smile. “It’s been so long since you’ve danced with me.”
Father stared at me, unmoving across the room, his eyes blank.
“Father?” I laughed, moving closer. “What’s wrong? Why don’t you dance with me? Mama too!”
I went to gesture for my mother to join us, but when I did, she disappeared.
Suddenly, the scene shifted, and I understood that this wasn’t real.
I drew closer toward Father, but he stayed in place, the room growing longer and larger as I stepped forward. Slowly, my head turned, my eyes widening as I realized I didn’t recognize the place where I stood.
“Father!” I choked, panic overcoming me. “Father, where are we?”
The Ladybug Waltz grew louder in my ears until Father crashed the music box to the floor.
A door opened, and the dream ended with a clang of a metallic smash, confirming what I had already suspected from the moment the dance had begun. It was a reverie. My eyelids fluttered in reality now, cold dread falling over me when I stared up at the stoic-faced shifter peering back over my laying form.
I should have known it was a dream. My father had never danced with me a day in his life. And I didn’t own a music box, either.
Instantly, I sprung up, yanking the blanket with me to cover my body. It was a small relief to find I was fully clothed, but that did little to alleviate the confusion and upset bubbling in my stomach. Millions of questions flew through my mind.
“What is this?” I squeaked, head whipping back and forth over the decent-sized room.
Sixteen by sixteen, if I had to guess, with a clawfoot tub and toilet in the far corner. It wasn’t broken into a separate bathroom, but there was a folding screen next to it, apparently for privacy if I needed to relieve myself.
There was only one reason for a room like this, and it wasn’t good.
“Good, you’re awake,” the giant dragon said with a nod. “You were out for a while.”
I tried to study his face for any clue as to who he might be. He was attractive enough, with dark hair and eyes, but nothing about him popped out at me. I had not noticed him following me or hanging by the brownstone where I lived with my father.
I wracked my brain for my last recollections before this moment, but the minutes were hazy. Had he taken me from my street? From my bed? I couldn’t remember a single detail.
Oh, gods! Do I have amnesia? Am I…
“Everything should come back to you,” the guard offered with a shrug, as if he could read my mind.
“There’s water over there if you need to wet your throat,” he added, extending a meaty finger toward a vanity across from the makeshift washroom.
I shuddered and shook my head, struggling for clarity.
“Who are you? Why are you doing this?” I whimpered, keeping my knees at my chest.
Was I in pain? I couldn’t feel anything over the waves of anxiety, waking up in this strange place. For all I knew, every bone in my body was broken.
I can’t lose it. That will help nothing. I have to find a way out of here. Fight or flight. And I’m definitely not a fighter.
He didn’t respond to my questions and instead pivoted toward the basin of water, silently padding across the thinly carpeted floor to pour me something to drink. When he returned to hand me the water, I refused it. I didn’t trust him not to drug me. Clearly, I’d already been put in an induced state to be brought here.
My memories returned slowly, me saying goodnight to my father and retreating to my bedroom. Someone had kidnapped me in the night.
But why?
