POV: Soraya
The dungeon doors sealed behind Zarek with a cough of metal, leaving me alone in the cold chamber. My breath echoed faintly off the stone walls, each inhale sharper than the last. The Ashra scouts’ dragging chains still rang inside my ears even though they were gone.
Zarek thought fear would break me.
He thought showing me suffering would carve obedience into my bones.
He thought I would fold.
But he didn’t understand what the desert had turned me into. Not a flower. Not a jewel. Not a bride. A storm.
I pressed my fists into the cold floor, trembling with rage and helplessness, trying to steady my breathing. My wolf paced in my ribs, snarling, frantic for release.
Let me tear him apart, she hissed. Let me rip the palace down stone by stone.
“I can’t,” I whispered, voice raw. “Not yet. He’ll kill the scouts.”
She growled louder, refusing to accept it.
“I know,” I choked. “But we need a way out.”
The torches flickered. A draft swept through the chamber. Far above, I heard footsteps echoing through the palace—servants, guards, Zarek himself moving through rooms like a king preparing for a celebration.
A celebration meant for me.
I swallowed the rising nausea.
“I have to get a message to Raevan.”
My voice trembled at the name. The memory of Raevan’s fury, the way he whispered my name as if it held his soul, the way he’d ride through the desert for me—
No.
I couldn’t cling to that. Couldn’t rely on longing or guilt or whatever ache lived between us.
What I needed was his strength.
His warriors.
His fury turned into salvation.
But I was trapped in the heart of Zarek’s palace, deeper than any prison.
Unless…
My telepathy.
Small surges, flickers, shards of thoughts I’d heard by accident. Echoes I didn’t understand. But they came from me, not the moon. My mother said I had a gift. Zarek believed it too—believed it enough to build his empire around breeding my bloodline.
But I’d never tried to use it intentionally.
Not like a weapon.
I sat back on my heels, closing my eyes.
The dungeon smelled of damp stone and iron. But beneath that, I felt something else—something humming, faint and electric.
My wolf stirred, sensing the shift.
Yes, she whispered. Reach.
I inhaled slowly.
Then again. Then again, deeper. The torches dimmed.
A pressure built behind my eyes, growing hotter, tighter, like the moon itself squeezed through my skull.
“Raevan,” I whispered. “Hear me.”
Nothing.
I pushed harder, dragging the memory of him to the surface—his eyes like a wildfire under stormlight, his voice rough with worry, his scent warm and grounding. I pictured the way he looked at me before everything shattered.
“Raevan,” I whispered again.
A flicker sparked in the darkness behind my eyelids.
“Soraya?”
I gasped, eyes flying open.
“Raevan?”
Nothing.
The spark faded like a dying ember.
“No,” I whispered, heart racing. “Stay. Come back. Please.”
I closed my eyes again, grabbing onto the faint thread I’d felt. It felt like reaching through a storm with bleeding hands, grasping for something constantly slipping away.
I focused on the pull between us—the bond neither of us chose, but one the rut carved into my skin and bones.
Find me, I begged silently. Please… find me.
My head throbbed violently.
Sweat rolled down my temples.
The dungeon blurred.
Then—
A jolt slammed through me. Like lightning. Like agony. Like a drumbeat I knew by instinct.
“Soraya?”
Raevan’s voice—raw, fractured, but real—echoed in my mind.
Tears spilled instantly.
I’m here, I sent, though my telepathy was clumsy, like pushing thoughts through sand. I’m—
A sharp pain cut through my skull. I cried out, gripping my temples.
“Soraya—where—are—you—”
His voice distorted, glitching through the distance, fragmented like a shattered mirror.
My heartbeat raced. I’m at—Zarek’s—palace—underground—dungeon—he has the scouts—he—he wants—
My powers sputtered, flickering like a candle in a storm.
But Raevan’s roar cut through the link, a blast of fury so intense it made my knees buckle.
“I’m coming.”
The words shook through me like thunder. I swear it—I’m coming for you.
The link wobbled.
Faded in and out.
My head pounded, vision swimming.
Raevan—
Don’t—
He’ll kill you—
“Let him try.”
A sob tore from my throat.
I pushed the last of my strength through the bond.
He wants my powers—he wants children—he won’t kill me—
My mind buzzed, black spots clouding my vision.
He’ll kill the scouts if—
“Soraya—ANSWER—”
His voice cracked like a whip. “Soraya—”
My strength collapsed.
The bond snapped like a breaking bone.
I fell to the stone floor, chest heaving, heart slamming so violently I thought it might tear itself free.
Silence rushed in.
But the last thing I felt before the telepathy burned out was Raevan’s rage tearing across the dunes. A fury so bright it felt like the sun cracked open.
He heard me.
He knew where I was.
He was coming.
For the first time since entering the golden cage, the fear didn’t win. Determination surged through me, trembling but fierce.
Zarek thought he had trapped a weapon.
He had no idea he had just declared war on a nightmare. And nightmares always come back.