#Chapter 42: Obedient

Elara The first thing I felt was cold. It felt like someone had dumped ice water all over me, the cold seeping into my bones. My joints ached, my head throbbed, and my throat felt cracked and dry. For a moment, I almost wondered if I had somehow been hit by a bus. But then my eyelids slowly fluttered open, and I found myself in a dark, unfamiliar room. The air was frigid and smelled strongly of perfume and cigar smoke. Where… where was I? The question barely formed in my mind before I tried to move. My arms didn’t cooperate, though, like my body was full of lead. I blinked harder, finally wrenching my eyes open, and when I glanced down, my heart seized in my chest. My wrists were tied. Silk was wrapped around them, soft against my skin but secured tightly enough that I couldn’t slip free. Panic lanced through me hard and fast, adrenaline cutting through the thick fog that clung to my mind. Gasping, I jerked against the restraints, twisting my hands, but it