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She was more angry now than scared.

After her dinner, she went straight to a shower and then to bed. Lying in the dark, she thought about Xeda, what more she could do to prepare him. And admittedly wondering about Kendra's words. Still wanting to believe she hadn't made a foolish choice. Come the trials, she would know. She shut her eyes and let herself fall asleep while pretending everything was going to work out in the end. That everything was going to be okay.

* * *

She woke up to the sound of someone hammering at her door. She blinked back the sleep and rose, quickly putting on a shirt and pants. Who the hell could it be at this hour? And what could they possibly want?

The hammering came again as she stumbled over to the door. Opening it, she found Dane and Ivan with two other men, guards by the look of it.

"What's going—"

"You need to come now," one of the guards interrupted.

"It's the vrisha," Dane explained before she could ask why.

Her heart skipped. "What happened?" She looked to Ivan who wouldn't meet her gaze.

"It's urgent. He's not looking too good," Dane said.

She studied them and could see the fear in Ivan's eyes and the excitement in Dane's. The guards looked impatient to leave. What could have happened? Did the grex get a bite on him after all, one maybe she didn't see?

"Let me get my coat."

She grabbed the coat off the hanger by the door and wrapped it around her, shrugged on her boots, then followed them quickly down the passage.

Outside in the icy-cold night air, Ophilia wrapped her coat tighter as they rushed for the training yard. There she found the place dark when it usually had lights directed downward from the tower. It was quiet. As she started for Xeda's cell, she saw no movement beyond the door. Heart leaping into her throat, she made for his cell.

"Xeda?" she called. A shadow passed by the door, and a pair of red and orange eyes looked back at her. She slowed, taking a breath. "Xeda, are you—"

Someone grabbed her arm and yanked her. She yelped, trying to wrench her arm away when a hand slapped over her mouth. One of the guards pinned her against him, his hand crushing her. She struggled in his grip, trying to scream or bite when his partner swung out his fist and hooked her in the stomach. The guard pinning her let her go, let her drop onto her knees as she gasped for air.

"You’re a meddling little bitch, aren't you?" said the guard who’d punched her, now crouching beside her. "You couldn't just let Sal make that demon pay for what he did to our old buddy Hendrik, huh? Too bad Sal will be pretty upset when he finds your bones scattered in that cell tomorrow. But the labs will be happy to have a new specimen to toy around with." The guard stood up, and someone kicked her again in the side. "House Lageth sends their regards."

They closed in on her, and all she could do was take the blows. Beyond the throbbing in her ears, she heard a vicious roar followed by the rattle of chains and then the kicking of a door. But she could hardly focus on the source. She only caught Ivan and Dane standing close by, watching.

She must have been knocked out briefly because the guards stopped to stand over her. Blurry shadows looked down at her.

"You'll pay for that," she thought she heard a guttural voice say.

One of the guards took hold of her and dragged her toward Xeda's cell. They picked her up as the other man opened the door. She was flung inside, her back hitting something hard and sharp. As she rolled on the ground, they closed the door on her, locking her in.

She lay there barely conscious, only aware of the pain. Pain that covered every inch of her body. She could feel her face swelling, and it hurt to breathe. She thought her heart might explode as it hammered in her chest. She knew where she was, but she could hardly move, couldn't even lift her head to look around and see the pair of miss-matched eyes staring down at her.

She waited for him to move, knowing he could easily reach her. She opened her mouth to say something and spat out blood instead.

The chains beside her moved. She saw his shadow bend over her and felt him grab her arm to roll her onto her back.

She stared up at him as he gazed down at her. She felt dazed, like she was floating as she looked up at his hellish face.

She licked her lips, tasting her blood. She wanted to say something, anything, but could think of nothing that might be worth her final words. She closed her eyes and waited for him to take his next revenge, to bring down his hatred on her.

"What the hell was that about?" he snarled.

She opened her eyes and looked up at him. "W-what?"

He crouched down beside her. "I said what the hell was that about?"

"I..." she narrowed her gaze, blinking slowly. "I don't know."