"You are mine. You can never escape me!"
___
____
"gasp!"
The words startle daydreaming Dela awake with a terrified gasp.
"Hah…", she exhales, controlling the wild beating of her palpitating heart as she takes her hand to her forehead to stabilise her troubled thoughts.
'It was only a dream…', she heaves a heavy sigh of relief.
The dream had felt so real, like she was back there, in the terrifying, merciless clutches of the demon, Gorak… at a time when he knew nothing of love.
Even then, he had punished her, not just with the labelling hickey, but also by taking her to watch her people brutally tortured and maimed in the torture chambers of the Fortress in her stead.
They were forced to pay the price for her daring to leave.
She had cried and begged Gorak to spare them, promising to never try to escape again before Gorak had finally let them go.