LUNA
Screams echoed in my ears. Cries from wailing mothers intermingled with the pain-filled moans of dying soldiers. There was no peace. No quiet. Darkness surrounded me on all sides.
Burning sulfur mixed with ashy citrus infiltrated my nose, making it hard to breathe. A bitter, painful cold tasting like ice came at me from all sides. Goosebumps erupted all over my flesh, and I shivered.
My thoughts moved as though they were made of ice, and nothing worked properly.
This felt strange. Like a dream…
But not.
How did I get here?
One moment, I was in Ravenwood Dungeon.
Now I was…
Here.
Wherever “here” was. It certainly wasn’t the prison beneath Castle Sanguis. It wasn’t anywhere I had ever been. A wide chasm of horrifying blackness greeted me on all sides. It was as though I had been thrown into the deepest hole, where even the moon never dared shine.
The rational part of me knew this was probably a dream, but why did it feel so real? Why did pain rocket through me when I pinched my thigh? Why was my heart aching?
And then it hit me.
I was alone.
Where was Sebastian?
Syndra had… tricked me? Someone was stealing my letters, and she called Marius a harbinger.
Of what?
Now she was dead. Her words had been little more than incoherent blather, but someone had killed her.
And Sebastian had yelled.
Where was he?
My Binding Mark burned, my heart pounded, and sweat beaded on the back of my neck. The screams grew even louder, echoing off unseen walls until their wretched rhapsody was all I could hear.
For the first time since my wedding, I was alone. Sebastian was gone. Julieta was dead. My family was in another country.
I was… somewhere.
Alone.
I hated every single second of it.
“Sebastian!” I screamed.
There was no response.
Repeatedly, I yelled my vampire’s name, my voice growing hoarse as I turned in mindless circles in the dark. All my abilities to think rationally seemed to have completely disappeared with him.
“Where is my husband?” I yelled, directing my words to the forces that brought me to this mysterious, dark place. Agony filled my words, and I bit back a sob. My hands stretched out at my sides as I desperately tried to touch something. Anything.
But there was nothing at all. My heart beat against the confines of my ribs as I drew breath after rapid breath. Every part of my body shook from my head to my toes.