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“No.” My voice is weak, hoarse. “Get off me.”
I thrash around in slow motion, unable to fight back.
“Stop moving,” a velvety smooth voice hisses in my ear. “You’re tangled in the vines. If you keep moving the thorns will pierce your skin. Trust me when I say you would like to avoid that at all costs.”
My body quakes and a strangled cry escapes me. My hands search for purchase, and I fumble to press myself up.
“I said stop moving.”
The heat of his breath warms the back of my neck, but I can’t turn my head to see who’s there. Based on his voice, it’s definitely not the lord, nor is it Felix, but that doesn’t make him any less dangerous.
“Please,” I croak out. “Please.” In my hazy vision and the abundance of shadows cast around me from the towering trees, I see a figure staring at me. “Char!”
“Quiet.”
The figure gives me a sad look, one I know too well. Blood starts pouring from her eyes and I scream. Then she turns her back, leaving me here.
“Char! Come back.” My voice cracks as I scream and cry for her. “Please don’t leave me here. Please!”
There’s a rustling behind me, and a few tugs as someone works to free me. I close my eyes and rest my face on the cool stone, trying to quell my body’s trembles.
“Char,” I murmur, my throat raspy and aching.
“She’s still hallucinating,” another male voice says from somewhere off to the side of us, this one more boisterous than the first. “I don’t sense anyone else. Already scanned the area.”
The person holding me down grunts. There’s a ripping sound and air hits the back of my thighs. My dress.
“Get... off of… me!” I try and jerk away, only for his grip to tighten. “Stop—don’t do this!”
My heartbeat pounds in my ears.
“I said don’t move,” he hisses at me. His voice warbles between the lord’s and something smoother. I wiggle—kicking and growling with mayhem. “The thorns have a toxin that will—” Something sharp pricks my skin. “Fecking ignorant human! Kenisius, I need you to—”
“Get away—” My words slur as the voices fade out. My body sags against the stone. I can’t move, not even to blink or breathe voluntarily. My body simply functions without my control. I’m a prisoner caged in my flesh.
The voices grow distant.
“…it won’t survive the woods…throw it back over with the other…"
“…so young…”
The voices cut in and out as I’m consumed by an unsettling darkness. It’s disorienting. Ice encases my bones. The darkness sucks air from my lungs.
A presence approaches me. I can’t see her, but I feel her.
“Find strength in fear, my Alessia,” Char’s voice whispers to me through the blackness. All the sounds grow quiet as I fade away again. “Find strength in fear.”
six
I Miss Char
Alessia
A wave of dizziness grips me for a brief moment, as I press myself up with a groan. When it passes, I take a quick inventory of my body. My hands tremble as they run the length of my dress, inspecting every inch. My fingers meet skin at the back of my lower thigh area, where my dress was ripped, and the rest is tattered and covered in muck. Other than that, I’m still covered and everything is intact. Nothing throbs or aches with violation.
I shudder with relief.
Only the injuries from the lord’s recent whipping and my escape remain.
