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Now that everything was done, he walked her up the main tunnel of his cave that would take them to the entrance.

When he greeted the clearing that bordered onto the forest that ran up a hill to his lair entrance, he was just about to shift to his beast form when a soft hand touched the side of his face. It was a gentle caress, barely a whisper against his skin, but it caused his head to dart down with mortification.

Azure eyes stared back at him. They weren’t filled with pain, but he could tell they were dazed with lazy lids.

“You have a lovely face,” she whispered, before both her arm and head went limp.

She was still awake, but he could tell she just didn’t have the energy anymore to hold either of them up.

His face turned into a snarl while his nose crinkled tight in rage.You just had to open your fucking eyes.

With a growl, Rurik turned from the cave entrance and headed back inside.

Amalia’s eyes fluttered open. When she found herself lying on something rather soft under heavy furs, she turned her head to the side to look at what she was lying on.

It was a large bed, probably the grandest bed she’d ever seen in her life. There were torches lit with fire along the stone walls of the room she was in, and they gave her the ability to see that pillars on each corner held a canopy above her.

With a few aches and twinges, she managed to lift herself up on one arm to look around. Her jaw dropped.

All around her laid riches. Gold coins and jewels were scattered against the ground before they came to the centre of the room next to the bed where there was a pile that came to a height above her head.

She looked around further and her eyes found a rocky ceiling.

I am in a cave?Indeed, she was. She looked at the rock walls, and it appeared like a creature with sharp claws had gouged this space for itself.

She could see the exit, but a large boulder was blocking the path unless she climbed over it.

“What is going on?” she whispered while placing her fingertips against her temple.

She crawled to the side of the bed so her feet could find the floor. She thought it may be a dream, hoping her feet might touch air. Instead, she felt the cold of golden metal as it clinked and moved when she placed them down.

My feet!She quickly lifted a foot to inspect it, wondering why she wasn’t in pain.

“I am dead. I have to be dead.”

Is this some kind of rich heaven?

“Not quite,” a deep, rumbling voice answered.

Her eyes widened then fell to the exit to see who spoke to her.

Amalia let loose a scream when whatever had been blocking the exit moved around to face her. A monstrous face with dark purple scales stuck its snout inside like it intended to enter.

“Stay back!”

She crawled backwards, scooting on her backside. She found herself on the floor when she crawled off the bed by accident.

It halted as it watched her scrambling back on all fours, ignoring the riches around her to flee to the furthest corner. Her heart was almost in her throat when her back met the wall.

Will it eat me?

It blinked cold, silver eyes at her. It seemed to wait for her to calm down as if it wasn’t some mindless beast.

Moments bled between them as she tried to settle her breathing – to think. All she could remember was burning at the stake and some handsome stranger’s face in her dreams. She remembered pain, searing, unimaginable pain. She remembered wanting to die, wishing to die, anything for the agony to stop.

The creature, whatever it was, slowly made its way inside. She curled her knees to her chest while whimpering, trying to scoot back further against the wall already keeping her there.

She knew she was visibly trembling. All her joints felt like they were shaking.