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W hen Filak finally set Daisy down, it was in darkness.

She felt muddled, hazy, achy and exhausted all over, and she swayed on her feet, staggering for balance. Her head was pounding, her mouth fuzzy and dry, and her memories of the night were blurry, a wash of inky confusing darkness.

Filak had kidnapped her. Carried her away through the streets. Run over fields, through forests, for what had felt like an eternity, while the moon had slowly slid across the sky.

And then — underground. With Daisy weak, tired, kicking and moaning, but Filak had just kept walking, amidst ominous crackles and crashes of stone. Into air that felt denser, deeper, a grunt of effort from his body, a hard clang of metal — and finally —

This. Here . Daisy on her feet, finally free of Filak’s punishing grip, and instead trapped in this empty, horrifying darkness.

But he’d also released her hands, at least, and Daisy could finally yank the sodden, revolting ball of paper from her mouth. Spitting and gasping for air, wiping her mouth with cold tingling fingers, oh gods, oh gods .

“Filak,” she gasped, as her shaky hands groped forward into the darkness, and found — him. His warm, sweaty, solid body, the body that had caressed her, made love to her, kidnapped her. “ What the hell is this? Why ?”

Filak’s answer was rough and harsh and unintelligible, his hands clamping too strong and sharp against her shoulders. Saying something, something important, but there was no way whatsoever to follow it, and Daisy clung to him harder, as hot liquid escaped her blinking eyes, streaked down her cheeks.

“Please, don’t,” she choked. “ Please stop, whatever this is. Nei , Filak . Nei .”

Filak’s body briefly stilled beneath her desperate clutching hands, and that might have been a shudder, rippling beneath his skin — so Daisy clung tighter, searched for where his face would be in the darkness. “ I — I thought I was your sól ,” she croaked. “ Your Daisy . Please , Filak .”

He betrayed another unmistakable shudder, quivering brief against her hands — and then another low, harsh reply from his voice. More words Daisy couldn’t understand, and she wildly shook her head, desperately sought to find his eyes in the darkness.

“Your Daisy ,” she gulped. “ Filak’s Daisy . Filak’s sól . Sólin mín .”

There was an instant’s choked silence, a shiver of an exhale from Filak’s breath, whispering across Daisy’s clammy, sweaty skin. Enough to lurch her closer, her hands spreading against his warm chest, his rapidly thudding heartbeat. He needed to see, he had to see, this was all some kind of horrible mistake, please…

She almost sobbed at the feel of his hand, slipping up against her shoulder, stroking warm and firm over her collarbone, curving against her neck. Touching her like he was supposed to, caressing her with that strangely reassuring safety, and Daisy’s breath choked out, her entire body tilting into his touch. He had to see, he would, and…

Something cold. Something metal, something hard and thin and uncompromising, curving against Daisy’s throat. Tightening , encircling, and then…

A decisive, gut-churning little snap .

Daisy froze, her heart thundering, and her hands frantically scrabbled upwards, groping for her neck. And clutching against —

The ring . The hard, smooth metal ring, circled snug around her neck. Like … a choker. A collar .

“What the hell,” Daisy gasped, as ice and horror plunged in her gut, her hands clutching in vain at the hard metal around her neck. “ What the hell, Filak !”

But he wasn’t touching her now, she couldn’t see him, couldn’t find him — and there was only more sheer, screeching horror, clawing in her chest. “ Get it off,” she gulped, one hand now wildly groping into the darkness before her, the other still yanking painfully at the steel ring. “ Nei , Filak . Nei !”

But he didn’t reply, he wasn’t even here, his touch vanished into the darkness, his body somewhere she couldn’t find, couldn’t feel. And when she staggered forward, there was only empty air, empty space, bumps and cracks in the uneven floor beneath her feet. Enough that she tripped, skidded sideways, no, no, no —

And finally, oh gods, Filak was here again. Catching her with those warm, steady hands, holding her upright, as a low, exasperated groan hissed through the thick black air. Swirling up the visions of the other cave, of the way he’d soothed and guided her with his warm reassuring hands — and even now, there was a desperate, helpless lurch of hope. Maybe now he would see, now he would explain, call her his Daisy , his sól …

But instead, something… jangled. Rippled . Tinkling soft and light, as if it were music, or a song. And Daisy jolted, listening, as it came closer, closer, and…

Another snap. Another click, firm and decisive against the ring around her neck. And when Daisy’s tingling hands flailed up again, it was — a chain. A thin, fine metal chain, linked against the ring, and leading toward…

The wall. The cold, solid stone wall.

Daisy stood there for a long, sickening instant, her breaths rattling in her chest, her fingers shaking against where the chain sank deep into the wall. As if it was embedded in it, trapped in it, part of the stone itself.

Filak had chained her to a wall. With … with magic .

A strange sound gulped from Daisy’s throat, because of course he could do that. Of course he would wield yet more dark orc magic against her. Of course he hadn’t cared, of course it had all been a lie.

“Filak,” Daisy croaked, a last, helpless, desperate plea. “ Filak , please. Don’t do this. I’m your Daisy . Your sól .”

But she couldn’t feel him now, he was lost to her now, he’d tricked her, trapped her, chained her. He hadn’t wanted her, he hadn’t cared about her, just like Lew , just like everyone.

A bitter sob wrenched from Daisy’s throat, and she uselessly yanked against the chain, groped helplessly into the darkness, no, please …

“Please, Filak ,” she whispered. “ Nei , Filak .”

But she could feel him vanishing, slipping further and further away, betraying her, destroying her. And that might have been a breath, a faint skitter of stone, further and further away.

“ Nei, Daisy ,” came his distant voice, hard, forbidding, plummeting in her belly. “ Nei . Vertu nú kyrr og bíddu .”

And then — another exhale. Another crackle of stone. And the gritty sound of swift, decisive footsteps on loose stone, fading into the dark.

He was gone.