Rey lay still.
Time passed, but how long, he couldn't tell. Minutes, hours… maybe a full day. In the silence of that cold, cursed room, time had no meaning. The weight of chains digging into his skin was nothing compared to the weight pressing on his heart.
Fianna's voice echoed in his mind — "There was no love. Only duty."
He wanted to believe it was a lie. A mask. A trick. But her cold expression haunted him more than Vladis's threats.
The door creaked open.
Rey tensed. But it wasn't Vladis.
It was her — Fianna.
She walked slowly, holding a tray with a bowl of strange glowing fruit and water. She didn't meet his eyes as she set it down on a stone table beside him.
Rey broke the silence.
"Why?" His voice was dry, cracked. "Why would you do this? You held my hand. You said you—"
"I never said I loved you," Fianna replied, her tone distant.
"But your eyes did," Rey whispered.
A pause.
For the first time, Fianna's hand trembled.
"Vladis saved my people from extinction," she muttered. "I am bound to him by blood and oath. Everything I've done… was for my tribe's survival."
"Even betrayal?" Rey spat. "Even selling me out to a monster?"
She flinched. Just slightly. But enough for Rey to see.
There was conflict in her.
"I didn't know," she said after a moment. "Not at first. He said you were dangerous. That you'd bring ruin. He told me you carried a cursed bloodline."
Rey stared at her. "And you believed him?"
Fianna looked down. "I had no choice."
A long silence stretched between them.
Then, quietly, Rey said, "I would've died for you."
Her breath caught.
"Then you were a fool," she said, but her voice was shaking now.
Rey turned his head away. "Maybe. But I was honest."
Fianna stood there for a long moment, eyes shadowed. Then she turned to leave.
Before walking out, she spoke again, barely above a whisper.
"…Don't eat the fruit."
The door closed.
Rey stared at the bowl beside him. The glowing fruit pulsed like a heartbeat.
He smiled bitterly. "So… there is still someone behind the mask."
That night, Rey didn't sleep. He twisted against the chains until his wrists bled. He ignored the hunger. He replayed every word Fianna had said, every flicker of hesitation in her eyes. He pieced it together.
Fianna was trapped. Just like him.
But unlike him, she'd given up.
He wouldn't.
Not now. Not ever.
His mind sharpened, no longer dulled by pain or heartbreak. If Vladis thought Rey was broken, he was wrong. Dead wrong.
Rey clenched his fists.
If there was still a part of Fianna left… he would save it.
And if not…
He would burn this castle to ash.
---