The water tasted bitter, and even as I drank it, my mind grew fuzzier. Drawing thoughts together became a struggle as I fought to remain alert.
“Why are we keeping her alive?” another voice, this one female, asked.
I tried to pry open my eyes, but they wouldn’t cooperate. Everything was so heavy. My temples throbbed, and a moan slipped out of me.
“You know she needs to be alive for it to work…”
Their voice trailed off, and darkness claimed me once more.
* * *
Three more times,I woke. Every time, moving was more difficult. My captors continued to force me to drink the water. Whatever it was laced with kept sending me right back into that horrifying nightmare.
A male was carrying me. I caught a glimpse of his hardened face the second time before they drugged me again.
A freezing, bitting cold surrounded me on all sides. Every time I woke, it was worse. My entire body trembled and my teeth chattered until even that was too much.
The Tether never burned.
I had no more tears. Each time they forced me back into that place of darkness, I fought less and less. I was alone. Sebastian was dead. He must have been dead. There was no other explanation.
I struggled to piece together what happened in the dungeon. Syndra said someone lied to her. Who? The same people who killed Julieta? Why did they need her?
Everything seemed to go back to Marius’s illness, but I couldn’t figure out what I was missing. There had to be something. Why did they kill Sebastian?
I would have wept, but I was so cold, I couldn’t do anything at all.
Warmth was nothing but a distant memory.
* * *
The fourth time I woke,it was of my own accord. We were moving once more, my body jostling as they carried me in what must have been the least gentle manner possible. Rope bound my hands, which were thankfully still gloved.
I wasn’t dead yet. My abductors didn’t seem to notice I was awake, and I didn’t draw their attention to it.
I couldn’t go back to that dark sleep again. I could feel it crowing in my ear, trying to pull me into its sweet embrace. One time, when I was at university, I read about someone who froze to death. I knew all the symptoms. Slowness of breath. Numbness that took over one’s entire body. Bitter cold seeping into bones. If I fell asleep, I would never wake again.
That was unacceptable. I would make these people pay for what they did to Sebastian. I would avenge him. Then, I would find the Fourth Order of Isvana’s Chosen and I would find the plant my brother needed.
Somehow, I would make it happen. I hadn’t exactly figured out the details, but I was working on it. Right now, I just needed to survive.
Slowly, I pulled my eyes open. Unsurprisingly, it was dark. But unlike in that place of nightmares, tiny slivers of moonlight illuminated trees that were more blurs than solid.
I only knew of one creature that moved this fast.
Vampires.
A shiver ran down my spine. How many times could I avoid dying at the hands of the immortal creatures of the moon before death finally claimed me as its own?
If my current situation was any hint, it wouldn’t be much longer.
At least my mind seemed to be working now that the drugs had worn off. It was a cruel twist of fate, considering the lethargy that was taking over the rest of my body.
The scent of crisp, fresh snow intermingled with that of pine, and exhaustion pulled at me despite my best wishes. I could not fall asleep.
Running through multiplication tables in my mind, I got all the way into the high twenties before finally someone spoke.
“The sun’s coming up.”