CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

I blink rapidly, trying to make sense of my surroundings, but there's nothing to see. The darkness is absolute, a thick, inky blackness that seems to swallow me whole. Ember's grip on my arm has vanished, along with the heat of her body. Fear claws at my throat as the reality of my situation sinks in - I've been kidnapped, dragged through that shimmering portal to heavens knows where.

A scream rips from my lungs as something unseen yanks my feet out from under me. I brace for impact, expecting to crash to the ground in a tangle of limbs, but instead, I land heavily in a wooden chair that seems to materialize out of thin air. My head whips around, searching frantically for the source of this sorcery, but there's nothing, no one. Just the endless dark and the frantic pounding of my own heart.

Cold metal bites into the tender skin of my wrists as restraints snake around them, binding me to the chair with brutal efficiency. The work of an Earth witch, I realize with a sink