𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐃, 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬.

𝟑𝟖.

THE MAN STANDS over Isadora, looking into her eyes, a sinister smile on his pale lips. Isadora tries to scramble away from him, but no matter how hard she tries to move, she can't. It feels like some invisible mass is pressing on her body, restricting her.

It is him, the man who had been watching her for months, the man who murdered her parents.

A terrifying realization dawns on her, this was how her parents felt the day they were murdered. Helpless.

The man kneels next to her, and Isadora continues to struggle under the invisible grasp he has on her.

His cold breath hits her cheeks as he opens his mouth to speak, "After this — I'm going after your kings."

Isadora tries to plead with him but she can't even move her lips to make a single sound. Her chest rapidly falls up and down.

All she can do, is stare up at the sky with tears rolling down her cold cheeks as the man sinks his teeth into her neck, this time succeeding.

Isadora's eyes pop open and she gasps, shooting up in her bed, which sends a painful pain to creep up her spine. Her hair sticks to her forehead due to the sweat that forms across it.

Her eyes rapidly scan across the dark room, her body becoming not as tense as she realizes she's in her own room, the man nowhere to be seen.

But when a cold hand touches her arm, she gasps and her heart begins beating at a faster pace.

Caius comes into her field of view, his face holding a panicked expression as he tries to figure out what has frightened Isadora.

A few ragged breaths escape her lips before she quietly speaks, "I had a bad dream... sorry." She pushes the hair out of her face.

Isadora hadn't had a bad dream like that in a few months, they all seemed to stop happening once she met the kings, having only a few after meeting them. She certainly didn't miss the feeling of waking up in the middle of the night scared and on alert.

Caius swipes a tear that had fallen out of the corner of Isadora's eye and onto her cheek, "Don't apologize." He shakes his head, "Would you like to talk about your dream?"

Isadora lifts her shaky hand up to touch her cheek, not even knowing she was crying. She wipes her face off, riding it of excess tears. She nods and lies back down, facing Caius. "It was him."

Caius tenses up but doesn't say anything.

"He was using his gift on me." Isadora breathes as she thinks of the dream, "It was terrifying, I know it's not real, but..." she closes her eyes, "And to think that's how my parents felt that day, was just, terrible."

Caius runs his fingers across Isadora's arm, listening to her intently.

"No matter how hard I tried to move I couldn't. Eventually, he just walked over to me and killed me. That's when I woke up." She says, rubbing her eyes with her fingers as she tells Caius about the nightmare. "And now I'm all paranoid."