After finishing their conversation with the wizard Voldemar, they left the café and headed toward her apartment. The streets were already crowded with people from the sprawling metropolis, all rushing about their business. Bags and shoulders bumped into her, but she barely noticed. Ella felt as if she were floating in an atmosphere woven from hope and fear.

  The fear came from what awaited her in the world of the fae. The hope came from the possibility of finding her beloved fae prince, Thunder, again—and restoring their love, their chance at happiness.

  Voldemar walked beside her, lost in his own thoughts.

  Ella remembered the first time she had found herself in the world of fae. Back then, Voldemar had sent her straight from the glass elevator in her home. Ella felt that sensation again—her feet leaving the floor, her body caught in a stream of bright light and multicolored sparks. There had been no gravity in that space; she could not control her body at all. She simply flew.

  This time, everything was different.

  As they approached the entrance to her building, Voldemar asked,

  “Well, are you ready?”

  Ella shrugged and looked him straight in the eye.

  “Yes. Basically, I’m ready.”

  She expected them to go inside, for her to step into that familiar glass elevator—one she had always feared a little—and be carried away into the unknown once more.

  But the magician did not even open the door. He simply touched Ella’s shoulder with his palm and said,

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Well then, see you in the world of fae, Isabella!”

  Everything spun before her eyes. The light vanished, and Ella felt as though she were falling into an abyss.

  The abyss was as dark as a well. She plunged downward, tumbling through a slow, dense stream of air filled with the scent of mountain herbs. Her arms and legs were spread wide, suspended in space, and she had no idea when it would end.

  Where was she falling? When would she be able to stand on her feet again and move normally? Ella did not know.

  Vague clumps of dark matter drifted around her. At first, they were formless, but gradually she began to distinguish shapes—faces, even expressions, if such a thing was possible. Some figures resembled keys; others looked like the monsters she had seen in the world of fae—huge snakes, dragons, and more.

  Or were they images born of her own mind?

  Ella did not have time to study any of them closely before another floated past. They moved like dark clouds, one following another in an endless procession. It felt as though this flight into the unknown would never end.

  The girl passed through the cloud-like images, unable to guess what awaited her at the end.

  The fall seemed eternal.

  Then, suddenly, her feet touched something solid. Ella staggered but managed to regain her balance.

  The strange sounds that had accompanied her descent—muffled, almost underwater—vanished. In their place came a rush of new sensations: the roar and shouts of people behind a fence, intense heat that nearly scorched her face and hair, and the sharp smell of burning.

  What was this place?

  Ella slowly lowered her arms, still held out from the flight, and opened her eyes.

  She was standing in the center of a vast arena filled with fae men.

  And directly in front of her stood a fire-breathing dragon.

  (To be continued…)

  Every choice shapes destiny… and the arena never forgets.??

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