ONE NIGHT, Seris tossed in bed, sweating even though the room was cool. The moment her eyes closed, darkness swallowed her whole, and she was no longer in the mansion. She saw herself standing in a cold, stone chamber lit by green fire, and the air reeked of blood and rot. Chains clinked behind her, and when she turned, she saw her younger self — pale, weak, and strapped to a table.
“No,” she whispered when she knew what this scene was. It’s her when she was not obeying Nyxaria.
Then a shadow moved at the edge of the room, and Nyxaria stepped forward. Her lips curved into a cruel smile, and her eyes were growing with malice.
“Look at you,” Nyxaria circled the table. “You still don’t understand what you are, do you?”
Seris tried to move, to attack, to kill Nyxaria, but her legs wouldn
