The Hunter pulled back slightly, the dim light catching the sharp points of her hairpins now held between his fingers. “Planning to skewer someone else while you’re down here?”
She scowled. “Depends on the day.”
He shook his head, amusement flashing briefly in his eyes before he caught himself. The shift was so subtle, like watching a door close, shutting her out again. “I’m going to assess your bind, and you’re not going to attack me this time.”
Elara snorted, the sound tired and bitter as it echoed through the cramped space. She didn’t move when the air shifted, when the faint hum of ether crackled and a wisp of power slipped from his palm, curling toward her like smoke.
“What will it do?” she whispered as his ether drifted lazily, curling in delicate loops before settling against her chest, right over the hidden seals.
He didn’t answer. His focus locked in, so complete she could feel it even through the mask. Elara closed her eyes, reachingfor the sensation—and then she felt it. A faint tickle. A thread of warmth slipping into her, subtle and strange. Different.
Her skin prickled as the feeling spread, sparks racing along her nerves as if something inside her were waking.
Then it was gone—yanked free as he cursed, low and vicious.
Elara barely managed to crack her eyes open, her body too drained to do more. But she saw him—his gloved fingers tapping lightly against the stone, his gaze distant, unfocused. And then, without a word, he rose to his feet, as if whatever decision he’d been turning over in his mind had been settled.
The Hunter bent and lifted her with effortlessly, cradling her in his arms. Elara wanted to protest, to push him away, but her limbs refused to answer. He set her on the cot, his touch unexpectedly careful.
"Sleep will help," he muttered, voice clipped, and turned to leave.
Just before the cell door clicked shut, he hesitated. His gaze flicked back to hers, meeting her bleary eyes. Elara braced herself for a biting remark, something cruel or condescending, but nothing came. No snide retort, no venom.
Only silence.
“What was the pill supposed to do?” Her voice came out rasped as she fought to stay awake.
The Hunter’s eyes flashed. “It would’ve made you convulse, scream loud enough to shake the walls. The guards would've thought you were dying. They’d have dragged you out, right to me.” He paused, and for a second, his voice shifted—just a fraction, a hint of something less controlled slipping through. “But your way worked too.”
He turned, the quiet click of the cell door sealing her fate once again. But… something stayed. Something that wrapped around her like the glow of embers beneath a thick quilt, like the heat of a lantern after wandering through endless dark.
It bled into everything—the rough blanket, the worn cot, even the cold stone walls seemed to lose their bite.
Elara's eyes rose, seeking him once more, only to find the space empty.
He hadn’t looked back. Not once.
But even as it felt like he’d left something behind—he’d also taken a piece of her with him. Something she’d unknowingly given—something he hadn’t asked for, but had claimed all the same.
Chapter 25
Elara’s steps were slow, dragging, her mind miles away while her body moved on its own. The path stretched in front of her—dark, endless, with a light barely visible at the very end. Hazy, yet… it pulled. Far and faint, but calling all the same. And then, another light bloomed, nearer this time, brighter, like a star flaring into existence.
She stilled. This was wrong. Thisplacewas wrong. She should be in her cell, bound by stone and iron, not here, whereverherewas.
Yet the lights… theysangto her, each note wrapping around her, pulling her deeper. The far light whispered, a soft, lilting melody that thrummed through her veins, while the nearer one tightened in her chest like a rope yanked taut.
Both were calling, but the closer one... itdemanded.
Elara turned—not by choice, but by force deeper than will. The path bent beneath her feet, drawing her toward the glowing heart. It pulsed in time with her own, faster, closer—until she passed through its shimmering veil.
The light didn’t just surround her—it poured into her. Her skin prickled as if touched by static, the hair on her arms lifting. Elara squinted as she surveyed the barren landscape stretchingendlessly before her. There was not a tree in sight, not a shadow to speak of. Only the sun, an indifferent eye overhead, searing the terrain into a bleached bone of a world.
And the air—it was still, stagnant, like it hadn’t moved in centuries.
Could I be dead?The thought brushed her mind as her steps stirred dust, motes glittering before settling back into obscurity. Everything felt too real to dismiss. The ache from casting still throbbed behind her eyes, her clothes stiff against her skin, sour with dried soup.
And yet—something was off. As if she stood on an edge, not just between sleep and waking, but between realms.
