★Nuel's Pov★
"You need to go meet her again. You need to accept her offer. She's the only one who can help you. You need her."
At first, the words had been nothing but a whisper slithering through my mind, urging me to return to lady Ariadne, to accept her offer, to agree because she was the only one who could help me.
But the more I resisted, the louder the voice became, rising from a murmur to a pounding echo inside my skull. It wasn't my voice. This one was different. Forcing the thought into me again and again, for Nuel to go back, for Nuel to meet her.
"Shut up, I'm not interested," I hissed, gripping a bow tighter in my hand as if that could steady me. I focused on the practice arena around me. Night had swallowed most of it and only the dim lanterns hanging at strategic spots kept it from dissolving into complete blackness.
