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All my dreams, all my plans for the future on the precipice of turning into ash, I say in angry desperation, “It doesn’t mean I’myours!”

Raphael’s eyes snap back up and flare so bright I’m blinded by the glare.

“Doesn’t mean you’remine?” he hisses menacingly.

Unable to see, I sense him pressing closer and instinctively take a step back.

“Do you want to belong to someone else?” he asks, the question more like a threat.

I shake my head back and forth and take another step back. “No, of course not.”

“Like Caden, perhaps?” he snarls.

Knowing I’ve pushed him too far thanks to the stupid hard throbbing over my heart, I finally give into all the panic I’ve been holding back.

“I don’t want to belong to anyone!” I scream as I turn sharply on my heels and take off running.

It doesn’t cross my mind that running in the mud should be a struggle.

Or that I have no hope of outrunning him.

Letting my fight-or-flight take control, I pump my legs and move my feet as fast as I can as he roars behind me.

Until I slam into something hard and unmovable.

Still blinded and my head spinning from the impact, I think I somehow managed to run into my wall.

Unprepared for the impact, my knees give out and I start to fall.

But cold fingers latch onto me and pull me back up, keeping me from landing on my butt.

I scream, afraid that Raphael has already caught me.

The voice that speaks as the icy fingers tighten around me, though, is not Raphael’s.

It’s the one voice I never wanted to hear again.

His tone conjuring up images of bones rattling against each other, the Prophet says, “I do believe she said no.”

TEN

ALENA

He can’t be real,my mind screams in horror.

The icy fingers dig harder into my arms, nearly touching bone, but the Prophet’s eerie voice is strangely sympathetic as he says, “Oh, I’m very real, my child. And your immortal soul is in grave danger.”

My entire being jerks in shock at the knowledge that the Prophet just read my thoughts, like Raphael.

Has he always been able to do so? Has he always known what’s been truly in my heart?

“Release her!” Raphael roars in fury, his voice sounding faraway.

I shake my head and blink my eyes until my vision returns. The first thing I see is black fabric. The same plain black fabric the Prophet wore the last time I saw him.

Unwilling to look up, to literally face my biggest fear, I twist my neck instead and glance behind to see Raphael several meters in the distance.

The strange thing, however, is that every time I blink my eyes he seems farther away.