로그인I straightened up. My heart was pounding. I looked around the room and for a single, disorienting moment, I had no idea where I was. The black stone walls, the red sky beyond the window, the dead air of this place—none of it felt right. None of it felt like mine. I felt like a man who had woken up m
Andrei’s POVThe collar of my shirt was pissing me off.I had fastened it twice already and it still insisted on sitting crooked, pulling too tight on the left side. I undid it a third time and redid it, slower, watching my hands in the mirror rather than my own face. My reflection had been botherin
Natalia’s POVHe didn’t hesitate.The moment I swung the rod toward him, his hand shot out and closed around my wrist like a vise. My arm wrenched sideways, and I felt the bones grind together under his grip, and the rod fell. It clattered somewhere on the stone floor, rolling away into the darkness
Andrei’s POVThe room was warm. The bed was soft and plush, the pillows made of feathers and velvet. Everything smelled familiar, the kind of scent that you recognize from a past life but can never put a finger on its source.Home.The woman was laying next to me, just as she always did. Amber hair
But I would do it, because the alternative was my children going through whatever came next, and that was not something I was willing to consider.I wasn’t certain yet. That was the only reason I was still trying so hard now. Because there was still a small part of me that thought that there must be
Natalia’s POVThey came for me after what felt like a full day. I say felt like because it really could have been any amount of time, or none at all. But someone did bring me some slop to eat at some point, so that had to have meant that at least a full cycle had passed.I was on my feet before the
It must have been at least a full day when it finally happened. I gave one final push, clenching my teeth around a leather belt that the King had shoved into my mouth some time ago.There was a gushing of water, a sensation of relief, and then the distinctive feeling of a little body slipping out be
Natalia’s POVWhen I woke again, the air had grown colder. All light had seemingly long since been blotted out by the thick walls of the mountain; it was pitch dark, save for the ruby that occasionally pulsed around the King’s finger, illuminating the walls.If it had been under different circumstan
Andrei’s POVMy world had narrowed to the rubies surrounding my cell. I felt like a bird in a gilded cage—a cage surrounded by glittering crimson, the color of blood and viscera. My wings were clipped by a madman who was wearing my face like a cheap costume.With every moment I spent in that cell, I
Natalia’s POVI slammed my fists against the glass until my hands ached. I kicked and screamed and threw my entire weight against that fucking wall. I willed every ounce of energy I had left into it, and yet the glass never broke.It never even cracked.Whatever brief moment of strength I’d felt bef







