Novels by zvachonruth

ELOWENPain was the first thing that greeted me.It was everywhere as though my body had been dragged through fire and stitched back together without mercy. My head throbbed in a slow, brutal rhythm, each pulse echoing behind my eyes until it felt like my skull might split apart.I tried to inhale deeply. But it was a mistake. Agony tore through my ribs and ripped a sound from my throat before I could stop it. My breath collapsed into a shallow gasp, my chest locking instinctively as my body rebelled against movement.White light bled into my vision.Too bright. The smell hit next— sterile, antiseptic… Hospital. I- I wasn’t dead.That realization came slowly, dragging itself through fog and fear until it lodged somewhere in my chest, heavy and unreal.I swallowed, my throat dry and burning. My tongue felt swollen, useless. When I tried to move my hand, a dull ache flared through my arm, restrained not by chains this time, but by bandages and pain.Then memory slammed into me… Sere

ELOWENHer words didn’t strike me all at once. They trembled through me, slow and invasive, like a sickness settling into the marrow.Before I could form another thought, before I could even force my lungs to pull in air— the wall opposite me shifted.A low mechanical hum vibrated through the concrete beneath my back, through the chains that held me apart like some grotesque display. The darkness fractured as the screen ignited, light flooding the room in a harsh, unforgiving rectangle.My breath stopped.And as the image sharpened, my blood turned to ice…“Serena.” I gasped. She was chained upright against a bare wall, her wrists stretched wide, ankles bound apart in a posture so deliberately exposing it made my stomach twist violently. Her clothes were rumpled, stained, her hair plastered to her face with sweat and tears. Her chest heaving in shallow, frantic bursts as she thrashed against restraints that refused to give even a millimeter.“Help— ple-eaase… someone—!” Her voice c

ALEXANDERI knew something was wrong long before the air began to thin…It wasn’t panic that warned me. Panic is loud. This was quieter than that— an unease that sat under my skin, heavy and immovable, the way dread settles when your instincts recognize a trap before your mind catches up.Steel surrounded us on all sides. Corrugated metal walls stretched out in dull, rusted ridges, the interior of the shipping container swallowing sound and light alike. The only light came from a narrow strip of emergency LEDs along the ceiling, flickering just enough to remind us we were sealed inside something not meant to be occupied for long.My men spread out instinctively, hands grazing the walls, checking seams, hinges, weld points. Every movement echoed too loudly, metal groaning beneath boots, breaths sounding harsher than they should have.Yet, we found nothing. No weak points or emergency latches. Seems, we're stuck… Or precisely, trapped. This certainly wasn’t a mistake. It was intentio

ELOWEN I stared at Lauren in disbelief. The sight of her hit differently— a sick recognition. Her posture was relaxed, almost casual, as if she were arriving late to a dinner party rather than a concrete cell. Her eyes flicked over me, then back to Daniela, the corner of her mouth lifting in something that wasn’t quite a smile.“Still conscious?” Lauren asked lightly. “Good. I didn’t want to repeat myself.”My fingers curled as much as the restraints allowed. “You’re here as well?” I nodded as though talking to myself. “I see… I am not surprised though.” I turned to Daniela. “So? Did she give your son an heir yet?” I asked. Curious even in pain and chains. “I am about to.” Lauren smirked, touching her belly gently. “I'm already…” “No,” Daniela said sharply. “Don’t give her such information. She's a curse, a living dark magic.” I blinked at first and then laughed out loud… “I mean, seriously? Are you really pregnant with Adrian’s child?” I raised a brow. “That doesn’t concern yo

ELOWENShock didn’t hit me like lightning. It crept in the way cold does when you’ve been standing too long in the dark— slow at first, then so deep it numbs everything else…Daniela Hale stood in front of me as if she belonged there, as if the chains on my wrists and ankles were an acceptable part of the room’s décor. The overhead strip light flattened her features just enough to make her eyes look wrong— too bright, too alive for a place like this. And the look in her eyes— she looked satisfied.“You shouldn’t be surprised,” she said, removing something from her neck. “You should have expected this, sweetheart.” And now her tone was normal, just as I remembered. Tilting her head slightly, she studied me the way a surgeon might study an incision that healed exactly as planned. “You were always meant to end up here...”My throat tightened, I was too surprised to even breathe, but I didn’t let the silence stretch in her favor.“You kidnapped my friend,” I said, forcing each word t

ELOWENI woke up to pain before any thoughts.A slow, invasive ache that pressed into every muscle and joint as if my body had been dismantled and reassembled wrong. The pain didn’t spike. It spread. It pulsed in dull waves that seemed to come from somewhere behind my eyes and sink downward, settling into my bones.I tried to move, but I couldn't. That was when the smell reached me…Metal— old, unpolished, damp. Antiseptic sharp enough to sting the back of my throat. And beneath it all, the sour rot of concrete that had never seen sunlight, that had soaked up decades of cold and moisture and secrets. It filled my lungs when I inhaled, thick and heavy, like the air itself had weight.I forced my eyes open.Darkness answered me. It pressed against my vision so completely it felt like blindness, and for one disorienting moment, terror flared sharp and fast in my chest.I blinked hard. Again and again, trying to see clearly. Nothing changed though…I focused inward then— on sensation, o