Memories of that stone room echoed around my mind. Of the jars of lightning and the metal tools that had carved into my flesh over and over. Darius had done that to me. It was all Darius. Every time I thought of him or woke calling for him in the night or screamed his name while begging for his help, that was what I’d gotten in return. He’d never come for me. He’d abandoned me to that fate. I couldn’t let him take me. I wouldn’t.

