Prologue
“Alabaster!” I shouted, my voice raw and desperate, as my legs propelled me down the dark, shadowy hallway. Each step pounded like a drumbeat of panic throughout my body.
The flickering yellow glow from the ajar wooden door at the end of the hall seemed to pulse with a life of its own, beckoning me forward despite my aching limbs.
“Just a few more steps,” I whispered frantically, clutching at the fragile hope that I could reach him in time.
As I finally burst through the door, my breath hitched painfully, a nervous tremor coursing through my entire body. I hesitated, hands trembling as I pushed the door open wider, the yellow candlelight blinding me for just a second.
“Alabaster!” I called again, voice breaking with fear. He was kneeling on the cold, hard floor at the far end of the room, his chained hands stretched high above his head, battered and scarred. His weak form reminded me of the torment the Mistress had inflicted on me, scars that were still burned painfully into my mind.
When he lifted his head slowly, our eyes met, shock, pain, and pleading etched onto his face.
“Elizabeth… please, don’t,” he rasped, voice strained and trembling. I turned my head slightly and my eyes darted to the figure beside him. It was like a shadow, the way it was cloaked in darkness. I almost hadn’t noticed it at all. A tall, slender creature with dark purple wings pressed tightly to its back. For a moment, I thought it might be the Mistress, but I knew it couldn’t be her. She was dead.
It turned, revealing piercing, glowing purple eyes and razor-sharp fangs, its sleek black hair falling neatly over its shoulders, giving it an almost regal but sinister air. Again for a moment, I thought it was the Mistress, their features were almost identical, but this creature was distinctly male.
“Elizabeth,” he hissed with a cruel grin, his voice a harsh, serpentine whisper. “Finally.”
My gaze locked with his, and in that instant, an abyss of emptiness swallowed me whole, like every ounce of happiness had been drained, leaving me paralyzed and unable to look away. For a moment I felt a profound nothingness, less than nothingness, and then without warning, in place of the nothingness a wave of excruciating pain consumed me. It was more intense than anything I’d ever felt. Almost like thousands of bees stinging me from within, flames licking at my insides, threatening to burn me to ash. I collapsed to the ground, gasping desperately for air, a scream ripping from my throat as I clawed at my skin, desperately trying to stop the burning from a flame that wasn’t truly there.
Amid the haze of agony, I sensed the figure looming over me, his approach almost tender as he leaned in closer.
“Wow, she was right,” he murmured softly, his voice echoing in my mind. “You truly are special.”
