“Take us to the Hub,” the air fae commanded, climbing onto the dragon’s back, never releasing his precious cargo. “As quickly as possible.”
CHAPTER 2
Completely, Utterly Empty
River was empty.
Completely, utterly empty. There was a part of herself, something that made herher, that was… absent. Missing, as if it had never existed.
A void had taken its place—a vacancy that desperately needed to be filled.
She had no idea what was causing this emptiness, only that it existed. There was no peace in it. No calm. Only sorrow.
A soul-deep pain originated in the center of River’s being, and it radiated through her whole body. It was an ache that began in her muscles, but it didn’t stop there. It sank into her bones and the very marrow of her being.
Something had been ripped from her essence and thrown away, leaving her with a shell of what she had once been.
River tried to shift her focus away from the strange vacancy and force her body to move, but it wasn’t working. Her body refused to cooperate.
What was happening? Where was she?
River tried to remember where she was and how she’d gotten to this place, but her thoughts were links in a broken chain. Thepieces were scattered through her mind, and she couldn’t put them together.
All she knew was her own name and that she didn’t usually feel like this.
“Wake up.” The low, masculine voice was quiet but commanding, and something inside River strained towards it.
She tried to obey. The gods only knew how hard she tried. But she couldn’t even move an inch.
The darkness around her seemed to get heavier.
A soft touch to her cheek. Then, something cool was placed on her forehead. Gently. Lovingly.
“Come on, Princess.” Warm lips ghosted over the top of her head. “Let me see those lovely eyes.”
River attempted to do as they asked. She really did. Some part of her deeply desired to please the person the voice belonged to. Making them happy felt like an utmost priority.
But her body refused to heed her calls to action.
Everything was so gods-damned heavy. It was as if a leaden, weighted blanket had been placed on River’s chest, and it was shoving her down, down,down.
She tried to fight against it, to push back. She struggled to lift the blanket and move, even just an inch.
But the emptiness inside her was so gods-damned vast.
The tenebrous darkness behind her eyelids was so thick.
And sleep.
Sleep was wrapping its arms around her, dragging her into its shadowy embrace.
River struggled against it, trying to stay awake and get to that voice. But it was no use. How could someone fight against a force they couldn’t see?
Eventually, she tumbled into darkness.
Twice more,River woke to the sound of that voice calling her name. Pleading for her to wake up and come back to them.
Twice more, she struggled to comply. She did everything she could think of to try and force her body into cooperation.