[Evelyn’s POV]

They’ve found me.

The stone walls of Blue Dragon’s fortress press in around me, cold and terribly familiar. Torchlight flickers across ancient stone, casting shadows that writhe like living things hungry for blood.

Father stands to my left, arms crossed, face carved from ice. Mother flanks my right, her grip bruising my shoulders. And before me… Cassandra.

My sister’s copper hair gleams in the firelight. Her smile stretches wide, predatory, satisfied beyond measure.

“Did you really think you could escape us?” she whispers.

I try to run. My legs won’t move.

Try to scream. No sound emerges.

Cassandra draws a blade from her belt. The steel catches light, glinting like a hungry eye.

“We’ve been waiting for this,” Father says. His voice holds no anger. Just cold satisfaction. “You’ve embarrassed this family for the last time.”

“Hold her steady,” Cassandra commands.

Mother’s fingers dig deeper into my flesh and I feel her breath against my ear, hot and terrible. “This is what happens to daughters who forget their place.”

The first cut comes across my forearm. Shallow. Deliberate. Designed to maximize pain while minimizing damage. Cassandra watches my face as she drags the blade through skin, savoring every flinch.

“Does it hurt?” She tilts her head. “Good. We’re just getting started.”

Blood runs warm down my arm and I finally find my voice, but all that emerges is a whimper. “Please…”

“Please?” Cassandra laughs. “Did you say please when you stole my dragon? Did you beg before you ran like the coward you are?”

Another cut. Deeper this time. My vision blurs with tears. “Father, please…!”

“Your father can’t help you.” His voice is ice. “He never wanted to.”

Mother’s grip tightens as Cassandra carves a line across my shoulder. The pain is exquisite, endless.

“This is only the beginning,” Cassandra promises. “We have all night. All week. However long it takes to make you understand.”

“Understand what?”

“That you were never meant to escape.” She raises the blade again. “That you belong to us. Forever.”

The final blow descends and I wake screaming.

My body jolts upright, drenched in cold sweat. My heart slams against my ribs so violently I think it might shatter them completely. I can’t breathe. Can’t think. Can’t do anything but gasp desperately for air that won’t come.

The room spins around me. Walls closing in. Shadows reaching.

I have to get out.

My legs tangle in blankets as I stumble toward the door. I fall, catch myself, keep moving. The corridor stretches before me, dark and endless.

Air. I need air.

The nightmare’s images brand themselves behind my eyes.

Cassandra’s blade. Father’s cold approval. Mother’s grip pinning me down.

They’re coming. They found me. They’re here—

I collapse against the wall, sliding down to the cold stone floor. My hands claw desperately at my throat, trying to tear away the invisible weight crushing my chest into nothing.

“Can’t breathe,” I gasp. “Can’t… can’t…”

The world narrows to a tunnel of panic and my vision start darkens at the edges.

“Evelyn.”

The voice reaches me through the roaring in my ears. Distant. Commanding.

“Evelyn, look at me.”

I force my eyes to focus and I see Sera crouches before me, her sharp features softened by concern.

“You’re safe,” she says firmly. “You’re in Black Dragon territory. No one from your past can hurt you here.”

“They found me…” I choke out. “They were… She had a knife…”

“It was a dream. Just a dream.” Her hand closes around mine, warm and steady. “Feel my grip? This is real. Focus on this.”

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