1
Ivy
Ino longer felt my bonds.
Chains kept them from me, pulsating runes carved into the metal dulling whatever power I had left, cutting my connection off entirely.
But the collar was worse. Heavy. Choking the literal life out of me.
It barred them from my soul, trapping me in this excruciating hell alone. There was an emptiness in my chest that was different to all the other times Dante had blocked them. Before, I knew it was temporary, that the feeling of losing them would be fleeting, and soon, we’d be united again.
I no longer felt that way.
Not when Dante had carved runes into my back to cover my mate marks. Painful, unhealed engravings cut into my skin with a knife that hadburned. The pain was so much I barely felt it anymore.
It wasn’t as simple as beingblockedanymore.
I just didn’t feel them at all.
“It’s too bad he won’t let us hurt her more,” a familiar voice said from the door to my cell. “I reckon she’d scream so fucking sweetly.”
I knew it was the voice of Zephyr; he came around the cellevery few hours, always saying the same things. The vampire I’d allowed near my family. Who betrayed us all with no remorse.
But it was the voice of his partner that made bile rise in my throat. “He needs to keep her alive as long as possible,” Hawk replied, emotionless. “The Seer says so.”
The vampire laughed, but I was frozen in place at the sound of his voice. At the betrayal that shuddered through me. My body shook with the terrifying realisation that he’d been playing us all along.
Maybe Dante was right—maybe I was a weak Queen.
My eyes closed, blocking out the sight of the grey stone walls, of the corroded metal door, thebucketthat was left for me in the corner.
It was painful, but I summonedthemin my mind. Elias in his suit the night of the Nyx Ball; Maeve the day she’d dragged me into that classroom before my magic exploded; Rowan on the night we completed our mate bond; Adrian the day he came on the date at the coffee shop; the Primal who’d seemed so against the idea of mates when we first realised the bond; even Damon, when he’d promised his soul to me in front of his entire realm; and Orion…
My throat tightened with emotion, but I wouldn’t let myself cry. I couldn’t. Without the bonds, I couldn’t tell if he was alive or dead.
But I’d heard his heart stop beating. Seen the life drain from his eyes.
It wasn’t possible.
And yet, he was gone.
I released a shuddering breath, head hitting the damp stone in defeat, with only the memories of my love to protect me from the darkness I knew was coming for me.
Sleep was reprieve,and I fell into it with open arms and a sigh of relief.
The darkness shifted around me from nothing to the beginningof a dream. I followed a tunnel of shadows into a hazy world of light and life; the darkness ended, dropping me off in a small field of soft, green grass and wildflowers. Gone was my gear, replaced with a flowing green dress. My feet were bare, allowing me to curl my toes in the grass as I came to a stop to take it all in.
Like all my dreams these days, there was a soft haze. Like a film had been set over the world, reminding me that none of this was real.
Ahead was clear blue water, a pond surrounded by boulders large enough to sunbathe on. To my right was a pavilion made of white stone, with green vines crawling up the exterior. A table within was set with drinks we never touched. The dreamscape was always the same, always peaceful and quiet.
My companion was always the same, too.
Lying in the field, with his hands beneath his head, Orion stared at the clear blue sky. It was always day in the dreamscape, but the sun was always hidden.
I stepped away from the tunnel of darkness, leaving the cold behind as warmth washed over me. I barely felt the grass beneath my feet as I made my way to where Orion lay.
He turned his face towards me as I approached, a smile playing at his lips. Here, I didn’t have to think about the fact that I would never see his smile again. That my memory of him would no longer be tainted by our final moments. Here, there was no end. No disruption to our happily ever after.
