Moon Raven Rising (The Moon Raven Trilogy #3)

3. Raelle

Chapter three

My lungs burn as I wake up gasping for air, finding myself on my back and sucking in the dust of my grim surroundings. My head is spinning, and my hand comes up to my stomach as it clenches tight. Nausea threatening to take away the small amount of food I’ve consumed, I wrench upright. I couldn’t have been asleep for long… As I wrap my arms around my center, a cold sweat breaks across my forehead, and panic surges through me.

The man from the shadows is at my side quicker than I thought him able to move, and he presses his hand to my back. The warmth of it is in sharp contrast to my shivering body, and it immediately begins to center me. His other hand comes down as he moves to help me, and he grips my forearm. The breath that he sucks in is so sharp, it sounds as though he was stabbed. I can’t see anything right now in the dark, just layers of shadows.

“Are you okay? What happened?” I ask him urgently, still trying to get a hold on my own sickness. He doesn’t answer, but I can hear the change in his breathing. The raggedness of it brings more unease to my already turbulent thoughts.

“I—” His words are stopped abruptly as the dungeon door is yanked open. The sound of footsteps can be heard as multiple sets of guards rush in. The dungeon now illuminated by firelight as the sconces flicker from the hall. They rip us apart, throwing my kind-eyed cellmate to the ground. He doesn’t protest, but the look in his eyes when they reach mine has my brow squeezing tight in the center of my forehead. His mouth is hanging open in awe or disbelief and his eyes wide at the corners. He scrambles back, trying to avoid the boots of the soldiers who have come in, unsuccessfully.

Their boots trample and mar his skin further, but his eyes never leave mine as he takes the violent beating. The pain in his eyes is not of the physical variety but rather a silent plea—as though I am the answer to all of his problems. I don’t have time to say anything or think about what he was going to say before I am unchained from the wall and roughly pulled out of the dungeon with my feet dragging behind me. The last thing I see is the glisten of moisture tracking down the stranger’s face before the door slams between us.

“Hold her still!” A guard in front of me growls as he tries to lock an iron collar around my throat. Another guard lets out a howl, and the other to my right curses as his grip on my arm gets tighter. “Motherfuck, you are a wild one! No wonder he wants you chained like a beast.” A voice sneers breathlessly. I didn’t even realize I was fighting back until I registered his words.

Forcing breaths in and out, my chest is heaving as I finally stop thrashing, and a weightless feeling settles over me. My muscles give out, my eyes become hooded, and confusion muddles my thoughts as the antechamber or hallway, I’m not sure, blurs. The room tilts, and the last thing I hear is the dark laughs of the guards that hold me.

“Have a nice nap, moon bitch .”

“She needs to rest. Leave her be. Please, sir.” The female voice begs in a hushed tone. My eyes are too heavy to open. My neck is too weak to lift my head in search of the unknown voice. I try to swallow, but the feeling burns, pulling a wince to my face. “Shhh, you’ve woken her.” I hear a clamor, shuffling, then the surface I lay on sinks with the weight of a body as someone sits at my bedside. I’m in a bed?

“Be sure she gets plenty of water. After the herbs they dosed her with, she will need it.” A deep voice all but growls so low I can barely decipher the words.

“Careful, dear. Here, drink this.” Cool metal touches my lips, and my hands automatically come up to pull the tankard closer still. I gulp down the water, desperate for the relief it will bring to my throat and the pounding in my head. Choking when I drink too fast, I cough. “Easy,” she says, taking the mug from my grip. She runs her fingers over my forehead and into my hair, urging me to be quiet. The feather-light touch has me sinking into the pillow, and finally, my eyes are able to flutter open. I’m thankful the room is dimly lit.

“Where am I?” I croak. My eyes focusing on the weathered face of a Fae with deep honey skin and dark eyes that only darken further as she starts to answer my questions.

“You are in Demetrey. You, well…” She trails off, looking down at her hands, the corner of her mouth following the downward pull of her emotions, and her sudden sadness makes me shift. The movement causes me to flinch as pain slashes across all of my body. I bite my lip as it threatens to wobble. Tears well in my eyes but I blink them back.

“I want to see Soren,” I say, glad when my voice doesn’t come out as weak as I feel.

“Oh dear, Sor—Lord Soren is—he will be here to collect you once you are healed.”

“Tell him, I am healed enough.”

“But you aren’t, dear! My gods, you are not.” She trembles as she says the words. Shifting where she sits, she looks down at me imploringly. I stare at her a moment before taking a deep breath, closing my eyes, and letting it out through my nose. I know she’s right. I’m not healed, and I don’t think I ever will be, not with my soul broken in two. The other half stuck in the mountains and trapped in Castenelle. She places a hand atop mine and says, “I’m so sorry,” so softly, then stands and shuffles out the door, leaving me alone to wonder what happened while I was unconscious.

It’s night when I wake. The moonlight comes into the room in a filtered blue, giving the cold room an even cooler hue, but with it, I feel strength. The moon washes my skin in its magic, heals my wounds, and aids my mind to clear. When my chest thrums in a unique way only he has ever brought, I close my eyes as I lay alone, curled in on myself. Images of Dax fill the space behind my eyes. Memories of the past dance through my head, and while they are happy memories being conjured, sadness fills my heart as the memories ripple away to a dream.

Dax sits alone in the dark, his head tilted, looking up, but his eyes are closed. His shoulders are slumped and his face pinched in what can only be described as devastation. “Dax?” My voice is a whisper as I tiptoe to approach him. My feet sloshing through puddles and over uneven ground of what has to be a cave. I kneel down in front of him and place my hand on his cheek, but the bite of his stubble is not there. Confusion pulls my mouth down at the corners.

“Dax?” I say again, my voice louder, but in a space where there should be an echo, nothing comes back to me. “No,” I say again. Cupping his face with both hands, I bring my lips down on his. He doesn’t move. Unknowing that I am with him at this moment. Covering my mouth, I hold back a choked sob as I look down at him, my heart, my mate. Alone, in the darkness he always feared, and the pieces of my heart still left whole, shatter as I realize this is the hell he’s trapped in. It has to be. Tears cascade down my cheeks and drip on his hands, where they hang limply between his knees.

“I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.” I say, as I desperately seek his gaze. His head lifts and my pulse skitters as he looks directly at me, a look of raw pain glazed over his eyes. “I love you,” I say to him. Hoping that he can hear me and that he will feel the connection between us. Hoping that my love is strong enough to break through this and give him strength I can see he desperately needs. “I can’t do this.” His voice comes out a croak, and my sob escapes despite my best efforts to hold it back.

It’s when his voice rips from his throat and he bellows the words in my face that I’m ripped away from him and deposited back into myself.

My body lurches upright, my panting breaths ragged as I clutch at my chest and fist the blanket that’s over me. Looking around the room, my eyes linger in a shadowed corner; the feeling of being watched creeps over me, causing a shiver to roll over my sweat-soaked body.

But, as much as I try to see anyone there, I see nothing.

Falling back into the bed, I keep the blankets held up to my chin and squeeze my eyes shut. I silently beg the gods for something— anything —to help the situation I’ve found myself in. This can’t be the future I was meant for. This can’t be the future for Aldramani.