Velkan tried to fight, but he was too wounded to have much effect on the knights who were better armed.

Unable to bear it, Retta turned away. “Take me out of here, Raluca. Now.”

She did, but still she didn’t take Retta back to the manor. Instead, Raluca took her to where her father was torturing her husband. Retta’s breath caught in her throat as she saw him bleeding and bruised as they laid hot pokers over his skin.

“Stop!” she screamed, closing her eyes and covering her ears. “Take me home. Now!”

To her instant relief, Raluca obeyed her.

Retta glared at her in anger. “What was the point of that?”

“Understanding.”

“I got it, okay? I was willing to—”

“No, not for you. I know you were ready to start over. But now you know why Prince Velkan isn’t. You couldn’t even look at what your father did to him and you didn’t even see the worst of it.” Raluca’s eyes blazed in anger as she glared at her. “What do you think he’d have given if he could have simply closed his eyes and told me to take him home?”

Retta swallowed against the knot in her throat. Raluca was right. He’d endured hell for her.

“I can’t undo what I did and he won’t forgive me. If you have some magic trick in your bag that will give us common ground, then by all means pull it out. But at this point, I’m not the one being stubborn here. And I’m not the one who has to forgive. I’ve apologized. There’s nothing more I can do.”

Raluca let go her hand before she gave a curt nod. “You are absolutely correct, Princess. Forgive me.”

And before she could even blink, Raluca vanished from the room.

*   *   *

Velkan tensed as he felt a presence behind him. He turned quickly in bed to find Raluca staring at him with a gimlet look that was unsettling.

“Is something wrong?”

“Yes.” She reached out and touched his arm.

Velkan sucked his breath in sharply between his teeth as his vision dimmed. Suddenly he wasn’t in his room. He was in complete darkness with an awful weight pushing down on his chest. It was hot and stifling. Oppressive. Something smelled like rotten earth. Damp and cold. It choked him. He couldn’t breathe as a putrid terror coursed through his body. Desperate, he pushed against the darkness.

It wouldn’t budge.

More desperate than before, he shoved even harder. Only this time, it caused something to rush in on him. He coughed and choked as his entire face was covered with heavy black dirt. The weight of it was excruciating. The thick, grainy taste filled his mouth and nostrils as he kept pushing and digging, trying to free himself of it.