Bound in Black Magic
Christopher gave my hand a reassuring squeeze before rushing out the door with Maria and Eleanore to face the morning rush, leaving me alone in the quiet, dim room.
For hours, I drifted in and out of a feverish sleep, shivering under the rough wool blankets one minute and burning up the next. Vague, terrifying nightmares of the auction house, the cold alpha, and the strange cloaked stranger in the market danced behind my eyelids, twisting together into a chaotic mess that I couldn't escape.