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I can get out. This is a trial.

Not real, not real, not real, I repeat it over and over again, and it offers me a small amount of grounding. The manacles slip away, clanging to the floor and then disappearing.

Not real.

“The cell door,”the voices order urgently.

I don’t question them. I’m holding on to my mind by a thread, any second now my panic is going to pull me back under. I limp my way to the door and pull it open.

Stepping through, I’m no longer in the cell, I’m in my room back at the castle, but the relief doesn’t come.

I can still see the cell, smell it, hear his humming, and my own pain-filled screams.

My breath comes out of me in harsh pants, and I call Asael to me. My hands wrap around his hilts. It doesn’t ground me as I hoped it would.

The door to my room opens, and I’m vaguely aware of the guys rushing in, but before I can feel any sort of relief, I’m pulled back into my memories. Someone comes at me, and I scream, lifting my swords in defense. I can hear a voice trying to talk to me, it sounds like they’re panicking, and there’s a distant part of me that knows their panic really matters to me, but that part is quickly drowned out by my panic and my fear.

He steps into view, the saw in his hand, and that’s it. I’m lost in my mind.

Chapter Four

Coen

Isaw it. I watched the whole thing. Getting up I leave the room as quietly as I can, walking causally even though it’s fucking killing me. I have to get to Neith. She is going to be in a full fucking panic at the moment.

As I step outside the door, I feel a familiar knock on my mind, one that I haven’t felt for years.

“Dimitri,”I say as I open the door to my mind and allow him in.

A risky move, but my instincts are telling me that it’s okay. I carry on walking, I want to run, but I can’t risk it, not yet. I can’t risk Kylen seeing me and ordering me to tell him where I’m going and why.

“You need to find her,”Dimitri says immediately, the panic in his voice making me pause.

That sounds like the old Dimitri.

“Look, I don’t have time to fuck around, have you been controlled the whole time?”I ask him bluntly.

“Yes, you?”Dimitri replies, sounding surprised that I have put two and two together.

“Yes, like recognizes like brother,”I reply, as I round the corner and finally start to run. The route to her room is seared into my mind.

“I’m going to kill the cunt that pulled her into the Choosing,”Dimitri growls,“I was going to anyway, but now I'm going to make it slow and painful.”

“He’s mine,”I reply bluntly.

Dimitri proves that he is back to the brother and best friend that I remember as he doesn’t even hesitate to reply,“Understood. If you need help disposing of him, just ask.”

My smile is sharp.“Thank you, as always. I’m nearly there.”

“She’s not going to be in good shape,”Dimitri warns.

I growl,“I know. It was too realistic, I couldn’t even find something that wasn’t exactly how it was, and I wasn’t looking at the room through panic. I have no idea how she managed to pull herself out of the panic enough to escape.”

“It’s Neith, she has always been the strongest of us,”Dimitri replies simply.

I grunt in agreement.“Can you hear what’s going on here?”

“Yes,”Dimitri replies.