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I lifted my head off the glass to look around the room, but I was completely alone.

“This can’t be happening,” moaned the voice.

I stiffened, my whole body jolting with awareness.

It was Alaric. His voice rang out as clearly in my head as if he were sitting right next to me.

A sob filled my mind, and my stomach wrenched at the sound. It was so broken, so full of agony.

“It’s over,” Alaric wept. “It’s all over.”

I didn’t have time to wonder how I was hearing his voice in my head. I strode to the door, my legs suddenly finding their strength.

“What are you doing?” Sasha asked.

“He’s hurt. I have to go to him.” I tugged on the door handle, easing it open.

“If you go to him only to leave him once again, it will just crush him further.”

I faltered, my hand still on the door. The cool air from the hallway whispered over my skin. After a moment, I shook my head and stepped into the hall, letting my door slam shut behind me.

“Do not break his heart again,” Sasha warned.

“I won’t,” I promised.

I strode purposefully down the hall. When I reached a winding staircase, I paused, chewing on my lower lip. I didn’t know my way around the castle. I didn’t even know where the king’s suite was.

“Please,” Alaric whispered in my mind. “Please, I can’t do this. I just can’t.”

The voice seemed to resonate from above, so I climbed the staircase. When I reached the top, I waited to hear his voice again.

“It’s too much,” he said. “Too much.”

Left. It was coming from the left. I followed the narrow hall, ignoring the strange looks the servants gave me as they noticed a witch wandering the castle halls by herself.

Alaric’s voice grew louder, his words more devastated with each step I took. Urgency flared within me, and I quickened my stride until I was practically sprinting down the hall. His voice was now so clear it was as if he stood right next to me.

I froze when I heard a muffled groan coming from the massive set of oak doors at the end of the hall. It was certainly the biggest suite on the corridor; if the king was to reside anywhere on this floor, it would be here.

I brought my fist to the door, then hesitated. Would he even let me in? What if he was so upset he didn’t want to see me?

I had to try. Even if he despised me now, I couldn’t just do nothing when he was in pain. My heart pounded a panicked rhythm in my chest as I knocked loudly on the door.

The sobs abruptly stopped, but Alaric said nothing. Perhaps he thought it was a servant and was waiting until they left.

“Alaric, it’s me,” I said softly, knowing he would be able to hear me.

“Oh, Cerise,” he moaned in my mind. My eyes closed, despair rippling through me.

I closed my eyes, speaking in my mind just like I would to Sasha. “Let me in. Please, Alaric.”

I had no idea if it worked or not. But after a moment, a whisper of energy brushed along my skin as the door creaked open. I carefully slid inside, my heart jolting as I noticed a tendril of shadow coiled on the floor. It snaked past me before wrapping itself around the door handle and pushing it closed.

“Are you hurt?” I called out, scanning the elegant chamber before me. It was a comfortable sitting room with two sofas and an armchair, a wide bookcase, and a fireplace. Beyond was a bathing chamber and a bedchamber cloaked in darkness. Shadows swirled from the bedchamber, and I inched closer to them. “Alaric, please answer me.”

“I am… not hurt,” came his hollow voice from within the darkness.

I paused on the threshold of the bedchamber, eyeing the shadows with unease.