Chapter 65 Valen
VALEN
…staring at the dungeon again.
I look around wildly—where is Irena?
It doesn’t take me long to see her—she’s chained to the wall, just like she was a moment ago.
But this time, she’s not moving.
I see myself rush in—and go straight to Irena.
“Irena? Baby?” his—my—voice is hoarse with emotion. “Sweetheart, are you all right? Come on—speak to me!”
He breaks her chains and takes her in his arms, but she collapses limply against him so that he has to grab her to keep her from falling on the dirty stone floor.
“Princess, talk to me!” There’s a note of panic in his—my—voice now.
I feel my chest tighten as I watch him hold her carefully in his arms and turn her face up so he can meet her eyes. What I see when her face comes into view nearly makes me cry out in horror.
Because, though her lovely silver-green eyes are open, they are sightless. Her head lolls limply on her neck.
She’s not breathing.
“No! My double cradles her against his chest. I see the agony in his eyes and I feel it in my chest. Inside, my Drake is snarling with rage and sorrow.
“No—she is ours! She cannot die! Nooooo!”
I try to tell him it’s not true…but it feels true. What if the Door is showing me something that’s really happening? What if Irena is dead? What if I’m just a ghost watching something that’s really going on? What if—
A flash of purple light and I’m…