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Chapter One

It never grew easier to bear The dying She had been dying for so long, ti There was no way to know exactly how long she’d been trapped here Decades? Centuries? No way to kno ry ht back, despite the unyielding odds She had never been raised to adive into herhow large a portion of her soul the next execution would rip from her

Did she have one left? A soul? Her grandmother would have told her that the question answered itself If it were truly gone, she would not miss it

But she did At least, the parts of her that had known love and laughter That had hoped and nurtured plans for the future Those aspects had disappeared a thousand bonfires ago And with that, the righteous rage inside her had rushed in to fill the void It had given her back soic

When, after decades of trying, she had finally succeeded in co with the world beyond the illusion, she was nearly overcome Unsure of what her next step should be after so many failures

Her power, ian’s One made of flesh and blood and not bound as she ithin this cursed landscape She had long ago learned that her only true chance at freedo a way to release her Praying, for his sake, that he was not connected to one of the foul witches who’d imprisoned her, she called to him

At first, it had seeh the doorway she had opened But the spell soon overpowered hie her

The poor, beautiful man And he was beautiful Brilliant blue eyes and dirty blond, silken curls that ht when she’d seen hiht truly be over She uide to lead her to her rest

The instant he’d seen her, he’d reached for her There’d been recognition in his eyes Did he know her? Was he the guardian angel her grandmother had always promised was nearby?

The iven her the answers she craved No angel The Magian she’d called for With one touch, his ic spoke to hers in a way she’d never experienced A spark of energy ran through her lier So that wasn’t cold and e she was instantly suspicious of it This place had ht were real before After all this tiain?

He’d smiled in relief and otten the chance

What would he have said if the mob hadn’t appeared and taken hied to the river for her daily punishment, only to revive once more in her small, one-room cabin Alone An endless circle with no escape

She’d seen hiel Her talisman They were never allowed to speak or touch; never allowed limpses of each other as the masses pursued them Yet every thwarted attempt appeared to ave her a sense of hope

If they could speak she would tell him that the spell had a will of its own Above all else, it had been made to ensure she would be denied all comfort Forsaken Forever

But as he still here? This trap was hers alone She recalled with great clarity the handful of ti her suffer with a devious delight she would never understand The o as he pleased