Lorraine’s POV
I woke up with a violent gasp.
My breathe was erratic.
Air tore into my lungs like I’d been drowning for days. Sweat drenched my skin, my heart slamd against my ribs, and for a mont... nothing made sense, not the cold floor beneath , not the strange walls around , not even the sound of my own ragged breathing.
Everything was foreign.
Everything felt wrong.
My eyes darted around wildly.
Where.... where am I?
The last thing I rembered was the Old Moon Bridge. The full moon in the sky. Kieran carrying and supper speeding out of the cursed bridge. The feeling of my head drowning in those voices. The voices, those chilling, ghostly whispers clawing into my skull, screaming, wailing, promising to tear apart. Then the sensation of my skin boiling from the inside....
I jolted upright.
And froze.
Because an old woman was crouched directly over .
Her face was inches from mine.
I flinched violently and scrambled backward on my palms. The movent hurt, but I didn’t stop until my back hit the wall.
The old woman didn’t move. She didn’t blink. She simply stared at with one milky white eye and one piercing crimson eye. Her long white hair hung in filthy knots, brushing the floor, and her skin was dry, stretched, and lined with far too many years.
She looked like a witch from a nightmare.
And she was watching with a keen attention that I couldn’t place or understand.
Before I could even form a sound, I heard footsteps, fast, desperate, and then Kieran suddenly appeared in front of .
He dropped to his knees and grabbed my hands like he needed proof I wasn’t a hallucination. Like he needed to confirm this was real, that I was real.
"Lorraine," he breathed, voice trembling. "Lorraine, goddess, don’t scare like that again."
Before I could react, he pulled into an embrace so tight it nearly drove the remaining air from my lungs.
I froze, breath caught, heart stumbling, unsure how to process the raw emotion radiating from him.
This was unlike the Kieran Valerius Hunter that I knew.
He almost never showed his vulnerable side like this.
He was always, stoic, cold, and composed. But now....
His heartbeat was frantic against my ear.
His hold almost painful.
He felt... terrified.
When he finally loosened his grip, I stared at him, really stared at him. The dark circles under his eyes. The tension in his jaw. The way he kept one hand on my shoulder like he wasn’t ready to let go.
"Kieran....?" I whispered. "What happened? Where are we?"
But before he could answer, sothing else struck , hard enough to make my breath falter.
The silence.
Not silence from the environnt, there was wind outside, faint creaking, Kieran’s breathing. No...
The silence inside my head.
The ghostly whispers. the tallic screeching behind my skull, the tearing sensation, the feeling of burning needles prickling under my skin....
Gone.
It was completely gone.
It was like a thousand chains had been severed at once.
My breath hitched. I lifted trembling hands to my head as if checking for cracks or wounds.
Nothing.
And my wolf, it was there, I could still feel her, but she was unusually calm and silent.
"What.... what did you do to ?" I asked, lifting my gaze slowly, warily, toward the old woman.
She only smirked. The kind of smirk that made my stomach twist. Like there was sothing she was hiding, sothing she wasn’t telling .
Kieran followed my gaze. "Her na is Liandrin. She used to be a priestess."
"Used to be?" I echoed. "What does that an...."
But before he could answer, the old woman’s raspy voice cut in sharply.
"Now that I’ve healed your dear lover girl," she crooned, "shall we move on to our deal?"
I blinked.
"Lover girl...?"
My brain stuttered.
"What deal?" I demanded, pushing myself to my feet even though my legs still trembled. "Kieran, what is she talking about?"
Kieran stood too, expression tightening. He reached a calming hand toward .
"It’s not a big deal, Lorraine. Don’t worry about it right now."
But my gut twisted.
Wrong.
Sothing was wrong.
He wasn’t eting my eyes.
His voice was too gentle.
Too careful.
Kieran only talked like that when he was hiding sothing.
"I’m serious," I pressed, my voice low. "Kieran, what did you...."
A sudden chorus of footsteps thundered from outside.
Liandrin’s head snapped toward the doorway with terrifying speed. Her expression contorted, fury bubbling instantly to the surface.
"Who else," she hissed, "did you invite into my abode, boy?"
Kieran’s eyes widened. "Liandrin, wait...."
But the woman was already rising, her fingers twitching as if preparing to summon so kind of terrifying magic on whoever was about to walk in through that door.
Then Felix stumbled into the room.
He was sweating, breathless, limping, and very clearly injured. Blood soaked through a tear in his shirt, and dirt streaked across his face.
Behind him ca Alistair, also injured, though so of his wounds had already begun to heal. He carried an unconscious lady slung over his shoulder.
Soone I didn’t recognize.
The mont Felix’s eyes landed on , he froze.
Then his entire face lit up with relief.
"Lorraine!" he gasped and rushed, well, hobbled, toward .
He wrapped his arms around in a tight hug, ignoring the pain it clearly caused him.
"Oh thank the goddess," he breathed shakily. "You’re finally awake."
My heart hamred harder.
Their condition....
Their urgency...
The unconscious woman...
"What is going on?" I demanded. "What happened?"
But Kieran’s gaze was fixed at the door.
"Where is Varya?" he asked sharply.
Felix looked away.
My stomach dropped.
Alistair lowered the unconscious woman to the floor gently. Blood was sared across his arm from carrying her. His expression.... I had never seen Alistair look like that.
Broken.
Defeated.
Ashad.
Kieran stepped forward slowly. His voice darkened.
"I said," he repeated, "where is Varya?"
Alistair swallowed hard. He raised his eyes to et Kieran’s, his eyes filled with remorse.
And then he spoke.
His voice cracked.
"She was captured..."
He exhaled shakily.
"...by the Crimson Hunt soldiers."
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