bChapter /bb160 /b

Nyssa pov

“Mydy?” I turned sharply at the call of my name to find Serena sitting on the ground, her eyes staring at me in surprise. As I stared back bat /bher, my mouth parted, my eyes widening as I took in her appearance.

She sat on the ground, arms hugging her legs tightly. She looked normal, her dress still neat, her hair tied in a bun, not a strand out of ce but even though she seemed untouched just as she had left my sight earlier, it was clear she was terrified and not okay.

Dried tears streaked her cheeks, her eyes red from crying, and her lips quivered slightly as she held my gaze. Something jabbed at my heart as I watched her, and before I could stop myself, my own eyes grew wet, especially as she squinted at me and muttered again,

“1–is that you, mydy? Is that really you? W–what are you doing here?” Her voice trembled in disbelief.

I couldn’t hold back any longer. Ipletely broke down, tears streaming down my cheeks as I rushed toward the cell where she was kept, falling to the ground and pressing my hands through the gaps, desperate to hold her.

“Oh, Serena! Come here, it’s me. Oh my goddess, I’ve been searching for you! I came here for you. You must have been so scared, weren’t you? You must have been crying because it was so scary… oh, my Serena. You don’t have to worry, I’m here. I won’t let anything happen to you for as long as I’m alive!” I cried out, tears falling in broken sobs as I reached toward her, moving closer to the cell.

won’t dri

thou

But Serena didn’t move an inch. Her gaze was fixed on me as she sat frozen in disbelief, as though she couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that I was really here, even as I curled my hands, opening and closing them, trying desperately to reach her.

She didn’t move.

She blinked at me and then reached up to wipe her eyes, as though she wanted to check if she was really seeing me or hallucinating. It was only when one of the prisoners at the cell finally spoke that she snapped out of her daze and gasped.

“Ah, it looks like she is here to see that female who was brought here this morning. Miss, can youe here for a second and open this cell for me? I swear I am a good man who was uwfully detained.”

One of the prisoners voiced out, and the others immediately began speaking again, voices rising over each other.

“Ha, uwfully detained? You assaulted a woman, that is why yo

are here, you

bastard!” one

screamed.

“Miss, don’t mind him. I was the one uwfully detained, I really didn’t do anything wrong. Please, can youe and open this for me?”

“Oh, shut up! Didn’t you kill someone…”

Their voices were loud and echoed through the underground dungeon, and for a brief moment, I almost lost it, wanting to snap at all of them to be quiet and let me speak to Serena. But Serena’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets as she pped a hand over her mouth and gasped in shock.

“Oh my goddess! You are real, miss. You are really here?! What are you doing in this dangerous ce?”

She asked, quickly shooting up from the ground and moving toward me, her eyes scanning me as if she couldn’t believe I was really in front of her.

“Mydy, what are you doing here? T–this is the dungeon. Please don’t tell me that you sneaked-”

Before she could finish her sentence, I finally pulled her against me through the bars and wrapped my arms around her tightly, holding her as best as could.

As soon as I did, I felt her body stiffen slightly at my touch, and as she inhaled deeply, I rubbed her back. In a shaky whisper, bI /bspoke bto /bbher/bb. /b

“I am here to save you, Serena..I am here to get you out of here. You are okay now. You bdon’t /bhave to worry. I will get byou /baway bfrom /bbthis /bbpack /bbbefore /bbhe /bfinds out and does anything to you, so don’t cry anymore, okay?” I said to her, even though I was the bone /bbsobbing /bbquietly/b.

b1/3 /b

b10:16 /bbMon/bb, /bb18 /bbAug /b

bThe /bthought of what might have happened to Serena if I hadn’te filled my mind with fear, Isabe’s words back at the packhouse had bmade /bbme /bresolute ining to save her.

ording to her, Darius rarely interrogated prisoners himself but when he did, the prisoner never survived. Every prisoner interrogated by Darius bmet /bthe same gruesome fate. They all died. But death wasn’t the worst part. Isabe had said the guards told the maids that the prisoners suffered to bthe /bpoint that they begged for death themselves. There was no way I was going to let Serena endure the

“M–miss, why…” she stammered, as if she didn’t know what to e

tears streamed down her cheeks.

same fate.

say. Before I could respond, she leaned slightly away from me, her eyes meeting mine as

go back, miss. You shouldn’t worry about “Miss, why would youe here? If the king knows you are here, you’ll get in trouble because of me. Please me. I don’t deserve it… not after what I did to you. I don’t deserve your sympathy. It’s really okay; I am merely being punished for my crimes, so please… go back.” She wiped her tears, taking a deep, shuddering breath, shaking her head.

“So please leave before anyone sees you here–”

Before she could finish, I reached out and grabbed her arm, cutting her off with a sharp re that made her breath hitch.

“Don’t tell me what to do, Serena,” I said, a frown tugging at the corners of my lips. “Don’t forget that I am your mistress. Whatever I decide, you will listen and obey.”

I whispèred under my breath and squeezed her

barm /b

gently, letting her feel the weight of my seriousness.

“M–miss…” she whispered, breathless, but I cut her off again.

“Sure, what you did was stupid, and I’m still upset that you hid it from me because if you hadn’t, things might have turned out the way it did. But what you did isn’t so grave that it deserves your life. You were only thinking of me, and that would never make me abandon you, Serena.”

I leaned closer, my voice dropping lower as I added thest part.

“I will never abandon you. In this life, I will save you this time. You will live longer, you will be happy. You will have your own life, your own family. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Her eyes widened, her lips parted at my words. Without hesitation, I moved my hand to her head, giving her forehead a soft flick while smiling, and she whimpered softly.

I pulled away and reached for the keys that jingled at my side, quickly searching for the one to her cell. Thankfully, the keys had the cell numbers engraved, making it easy to find the right one. I picked it up and chuckled, showing it to Serena.

“Look, I found the key. Let’s get you out of here,” I said with an excited grin.

But her eyes immediately darted past me, and in the next second, her face went pale, as if she had seen a ghost. Her voice trembled as she whispered,

“M–miss, miss… Behind you. The–the…”

Her words trailed off as she pointed shakily. At that exact moment, everything seemed to freeze. I didn’t even need to hear the rest—just the unmistakable, intoxicating scent drifting behind me told me everything.

“Well… this is awkward,” came the familiar voice of Cassian behind me,

1 swallowed hard, fighting the urge to look

awayi, /ibut I couldn’t.

And there he wasb, /bstanding there, staring at me with those cold, emotionless eyes that sent shivers down my spine.

Darius

bAh/b… fuckb. /b

b2/3 /b