AYLIN The ache came first, then the smell. Copper, thick enough to coat my tongue. It took me a moment to understand it was mine. I tried to lift my head and the room swung sideways. My limbs felt filled with wet sand. Silver cuffs held my wrists above me, and every pulse of my heart pushed a fresh wave of cold through my chest, as if someone had opened a drain and the warmth was running out of me. "Careful. You've lost a good deal." The voice drifted out of the dark past the torchlight, soft and amused. A man stepped into view, and my stomach dropped. Skin pale as candle wax. A cloak that swallowed the firelight. Eyes the red of old wine. "Malakai." "You remembered." He looked delighted. "I wasn't sure the dream had stuck." "What do you want from me?" The words scraped out, barely louder than breath "Don't spend your strength on questions, darling." He pulled a stool from the shadows and sat across from me, elbows on his knees, like a friend visiting a sickbed. "You have so l
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