Never Going Back

He knew.

After all this time, across thousands of miles -- he knew.

And he was coming for her.

Zorah felt as if she'd never sleep again.  The assassin or kidnapper or whatever her loathsome spouse had hired could be anywhere, any time.  And he would be just as ruthless as her husband.

It was difficult to speak or even think about him -- her husband.  The memories had eventually faded and settled, stuffed deep in a dark cellar where she would never go.  But now they were waking up.

She recalled the wedding ceremony -- a sordid affair.  Her filmy dress's sleeves hid the manacles but no one could mistake the sound.

She had tried to escape the night before but was caught and thrown in a tiny, airless closet to await the wedding day.  When threats of bodily harm did not dissuade her from running when the guards came to get her, her sister Celia's life was threatened, and she knew only too well how the groom delighted in carrying out his threats.

Now, Zorah put her hand over her heart, her fingers finding the branding scar her husband had made to claim her as his own, forever.  She would always have that scar.  Always be marked by his evil.  Always know that he was out there, hunting her, wanting her.

She remembered the shining, black claws tracing her skin, stopping to pierce her so he could hear her gasp in pain.  She never screamed, even when he began to do worse.

But there was one day he went too far.

The house staff discovered her unconscious and dragged her to the servant's quarters.  One of them had a son (unknown to the Duke) and contacted him to take Zorah away.

Zorah awoke in a coffin.

Her muffled scream stopped the wagon and a voice from above calmed her.

"You're safe."

The coffin lid lifted and she saw the night sky in patches around the silhouette of her savior.

They had taken months to reach a safe haven, where the young man said goodbye and made his way back home.  Zorah found work as a waitress and sometimes-artist.  She bartered her way to Zarcharis and had been lucky enough to find work at the Segrac Cellar.

And now...this.

After all this time.  He wanted her back again.

But instead of helpless despair, a tiny spark of rebellion lit in Zorah's chest, burning away the wretched memories, replacing them with a resolution.  No matter what it took, no matter what she had to do...

...she was never going back.