Chapter 30. Rescue?

Ally's POV

My fingers scrape against the cold, uneven stone of the dungeon wall. It's pitch-black except for the slithers of moonlight that creep through the high, barred window.

"Dawn," I whisper into the dark, trying to reach out to her through our bond- a bond that has always been as natural as breathing. But there's nothing. No comforting brush against my consciousness, no familiar presence wrapping around my heart. Just an abyss where she should be.

"Dawn, please," I beg, my voice breaking. She's always been there, a constant warmth, a guardian spirit intertwined with my soul. Her absence is a void.

I slump against the wall, despair creeping into my bones. Poppy's treachery cuts deeper than any blade could. She feigned friendship with a smile that held the promise of sisterhood, but in her eyes, I see now, there was the gleam of ambition, a hunger for power that devoured any semblance of loyalty.

Now, in