[Evelyn’s POV]
They've found me.
The stone walls of Blue Dragon’s fortress press in around me, cold and terribly familiar. Torchlight flickers across ancient stone, casting shadows that writhe like living things hungry for blood.
Father stands to my left, arms crossed, face carved from ice. Mother flanks my right, her grip bruising my shoulders. And before me… Cassandra.
My sister's copper hair gleams in the firelight. Her smile stretches wide, predatory, satisfied beyond measure.
"Did you really think you could escape us?" she whispers.
I try to run. My legs won't move.
Try to scream. No sound emerges.
Cassandra draws a blade from her belt. The steel catches light, glinting like a hungry eye.
"We've been waiting for this," Father says. His voice holds no anger. Just cold satisfaction. "You've embarrassed this family for the last time."
"Hold her steady," Cassandra commands.
Mother's fingers dig deeper into my flesh and I feel her breath against my ear, hot and terrible. "This is what happens to daughters who forget their place."
The first cut comes across my forearm. Shallow. Deliberate. Designed to maximize pain while minimizing damage. Cassandra watches my face as she drags the blade through skin, savoring every flinch.
"Does it hurt?" She tilts her head. "Good. We're just getting started."
Blood runs warm down my arm and I finally find my voice, but all that emerges is a whimper. "Please…"
"Please?" Cassandra laughs. "Did you say please when you stole my dragon? Did you beg before you ran like the coward you are?"
Another cut. Deeper this time. My vision blurs with tears. "Father, please…!"
"Your father can't help you." His voice is ice. "He never wanted to."
Mother's grip tightens as Cassandra carves a line across my shoulder. The pain is exquisite, endless.
"This is only the beginning," Cassandra promises. "We have all night. All week. However long it takes to make you understand."
"Understand what?"
"That you were never meant to escape." She raises the blade again. "That you belong to us. Forever."
The final blow descends and I wake screaming.
My body jolts upright, drenched in cold sweat. My heart slams against my ribs so violently I think it might shatter them completely. I can't breathe. Can't think. Can't do anything but gasp desperately for air that won't come.
The room spins around me. Walls closing in. Shadows reaching.
I have to get out.
My legs tangle in blankets as I stumble toward the door. I fall, catch myself, keep moving. The corridor stretches before me, dark and endless.
Air. I need air.
The nightmare's images brand themselves behind my eyes.
Cassandra's blade. Father's cold approval. Mother's grip pinning me down.
They're coming. They found me. They're here—
I collapse against the wall, sliding down to the cold stone floor. My hands claw desperately at my throat, trying to tear away the invisible weight crushing my chest into nothing.
"Can't breathe," I gasp. "Can't… can't…"
The world narrows to a tunnel of panic and my vision start darkens at the edges.
"Evelyn."
The voice reaches me through the roaring in my ears. Distant. Commanding.
"Evelyn, look at me."
I force my eyes to focus and I see Sera crouches before me, her sharp features softened by concern.
"You're safe," she says firmly. "You're in Black Dragon territory. No one from your past can hurt you here."
"They found me…" I choke out. "They were… She had a knife…"
"It was a dream. Just a dream." Her hand closes around mine, warm and steady. "Feel my grip? This is real. Focus on this."
I cling to her fingers like a drowning woman clutching a lifeline. The pressure anchors me slightly to reality. "I can't breathe…"
"Yes, you can. You're breathing right now. Listen to my voice." Sera's tone remains calm, unhurried. "We're going to count together. In for four. Out for four."
"I can't…"
"You can. One, two, three, four—breathe in." I try, but the air comes in ragged gulps. "Good. Now out. One, two, three, four."
We repeat the pattern. Again. Again. Slowly, the vice around my chest loosens.
Sera produces a cup of cold water from somewhere. "Drink. Small sips only."
The cold liquid slides down my throat, shocking me further into reality. My hands tremble so badly that water spills over the rim.
"Easy." Sera steadies the cup. "There's no rush. Take your time."
I don't know how long we sit there. Long enough for my heartbeat to slow. For the trembling to fade to occasional shivers. For the nightmare's grip to finally release.
"Better?" Sera asks quietly when my breathing finally steadies. I nod weakly, not trusting my voice yet. "Good." She settles beside me against the wall. "Now tell me what happened."
"It was just a nightmare…"
"That wasn't 'just' anything." Her eyes hold mine. "I've seen battle-hardened warriors have these… bouts of fear. What you experienced was something deeper."
I look away. "You wouldn't understand anyway."
"Try me."
The words stick in my throat. But Sera's patience doesn't waver.
"My family," I finally whisper. "In the dream, they found me. They... hurt me."
"Your family wanted to hurt you?"
"They wanted me dead." The truth spills out before I can stop it. "They planned it. Discussed it like they were planning a dinner menu."
"Why would your own family want you dead?"
"Because I was inconvenient. Because my sister wanted everything I had. Because…" My voice cracks. "Because they never loved me at all."
Sera absorbs this in silence. No judgment. No pity. Just quiet attention.
"So you ran," she says finally.
"I ran. And they're… They’re dead, but if they weren’t, they’d probably still be looking for me. The nightmare felt so real… like they were actually here."
"They're not. I would know if strangers entered our territory. Even dead ones." Sera's voice carries absolute certainty. "You're safe within these walls."
"Am I? Everyone here watches me like I'm a threat. Everyone except…" I stop myself.
"Except?"
"Nothing. It doesn't matter."
Sera studies me for a long moment. Then she rises, extending her hand. "Come. You shouldn't sit on a cold stone all night."
I let her pull me up. My legs feel weak, but they hold.
"Evelyn." She pauses. "If you want this house to trust you, you need to start trusting us first."
The words hit harder than expected. "You've been watching me for days. Reporting everything to Lord Draven."
"Yes. Because that's my duty." She meets my eyes steadily. "But duty doesn't preclude compassion."
I don't know what to say. This is the first kindness anyone here has shown me.
"Get some sleep," Sera says. "Tomorrow will be demanding enough without exhaustion weighing you down."
She walks me to my door and waits until I step inside. Before she leaves, she glances back.
"The nightmares may return. When they do, find me. You don't have to suffer alone."
Then she's gone, footsteps fading into darkness. I stand in my small room, still trembling. The egg's warmth pulses beneath the floorboards.
"Perhaps not everyone here is your enemy," Aspis murmurs.
"Perhaps," I whisper back.
But as I curl around my hidden dragon, I can't shake one terrible truth.
The nightmare wasn't really about Cassandra finding me. It was about what she'll do when she eventually does. And some part of me knows—that day is coming.