All Chapters of Bride of the Beasts: Chapter 21 - Chapter 28

ANWEN'S POVAt some point, the crying stopped not because I wanted it to, but because there was nothing left in me to give. My chest still hitched now and then, but the tears themselves had run dry.I was exhausted from it. And it wasn’t even the collar that broke me. It was Arlo.Arlo, dragged away. Arlo, thrown into some dark, stinking cell because of me. Every time I pictured his face as the guards hauled him back, his hand reaching for mine, a fresh ache opened in my chest.My throat felt raw and tight, as if every sob had scraped it hollow. My eyes were swollen, my nose sore and reddened from wiping it too many times, and a dull throb pulsed behind my temples.Wells had brought dinner an hour ago, but the tray sat untouched on the table, the food long since gone cold. I couldn’t bring myself to eat. I couldn’t bring myself to move.I didn’t know how long I had been sitting on the floor, knees drawn to my chest, arms wrapped around myself. But when I finally lifted my head, the fu

ANWEN'S POVI went completely still.The fight drained out of me all at once. Even if any had remained, it would have been useless. There was no point struggling anymore.This was always going to happen. The only reason I’d ever been brought here.I have survived longer than most. A small, bitter miracle.A sob broke free anyway.I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself, every nerve strung tight as I waited for whatever came next.Fenric’s growl rumbled right against me. I flinched, a muffled whimper escaping me. The sound came again, sharper now, trembling through the shelves around us.Then suddenly... his grip loosened. The hand pinning me down loosened, then slipped away entirely. The weight between my legs vanished just as suddenly, leaving only cold air in its place.For a moment, I lay there, trying to catch up. My mind lagged behind my body, caught somewhere between terror and confusion.I curled onto my side atop the table, drawing my knees to my chest, my eyes still squeezed

ANWEN'S POVI could only stare at Rhydan for a long, suspended moment, my throat suddenly dry. The courage that had pushed me to stop him began to crumble beneath his cold, unyielding gaze.He stood there with his arms folded, fingers tapping once against his elbow in clear impatience.“Speak,” he snapped at last.I flinched at the sharpness in his voice. “My brother,” I blurted, the words tumbling out before I could think of anything else.Rhydan raised a brow slowly. “What brother?”I frowned. He knew exactly who I meant.And there was something in his tone when he said it—something I couldn’t quite place. The anger, I understood well enough. We had tried to escape. Arlo had taken me and run.But there was something else beneath it.His expression would tighten ever so slightly, like he wanted to scoff. Disdain, maybe. Or contempt.Still, none of that matters right now. What mattered was getting Arlo released.I swallowed and forced myself to meet his gaze. “Arlo,” I said. “My broth

ANWEN'S POVI tried to retrace my steps, turning back the way I thought I’d come, hoping the path would simply open again and reveal Brammon standing exactly where I’d left him.I had only walked a few steps away. Surely, I couldn’t have gotten that far from him.At least, that was what I kept telling myself.I hurried down the nearest path, only to find it splitting into two corridors I was certain hadn’t been there before. I chose one at random and followed it, my pace breaking into a run.Then the wall beside me shifted.I froze.A low grinding rumbled beneath the earth as the stone slowly twisted, the maze rearranging itself yet again. The passage behind me sealed shut while another opened farther ahead.“No!”My voice bounced uselessly through the labyrinth, swallowed by echoing stone.I turned back the way I’d come, but the path no longer looked the same. The walls had shifted again, the angles sharper now, the passage narrower than before.I froze, uncertainty rooting me in pla