Chapter 43 Captured - II

• The air in the room was thick, suffocating. Alaric jolted awake as if stabbed in the chest. His breathing was ragged, his heart racing—but not for himself.
• For her. For Eulalia.
• He sprang out of bed, sweat matting his hair to his forehead, his wild eyes scanning the darkness. There was no sound. Nothing. Just a gaping, painful emptiness. A fear that clawed at his insides. A pain that didn’t come from his body yet felt far too real to ignore.