Chapter 4 — Chains and Names

Pain.

That’s the first thing I feel.

It’s strange — after all that warmth, after the quiet, I thought I’d never feel anything again. But now, my body screams. My wrists ache like fire, my throat burns, and my back… gods, my back feels like it’s been scraped raw.

Something cold digs into my skin — metal.

I open my eyes slowly. Light stabs through my vision, sharp and golden. My head spins, and for a moment, I can’t tell up from down. I blink again, and the world starts to take shape.

Stone walls. Damp air. Straw scattered beneath me. And around my wrists — chains. Real chains.

No hospital. No machines.

Just me, the echo of water dripping somewhere, and a faint voice whispering through the dark.

“S–Samuel…? Samuel, are you awake?”

The voice is trembling. Young. Male. I lift my head slightly, every bone protesting. My vision clears just enough to see a thin boy kneeling nearby — messy brown hair, wide eyes. He’s holding a bucket of water and staring at me like I’m something fragile that might break again if he blinks too fast.

Samuel. He said, Samuel.

Who’s that?

My lips part, but the sound that comes out isn’t my voice.

It’s higher. Softer. Shaky.

“Wh… who’s Samuel?”

The boy blinks at me, confused. Then he bows his head so fast his forehead hits the floor.

“I–I’m sorry! Please don’t be angry, Master Emily said not to make noise—”

His words tumble over each other until they stop making sense.

Master… Emily?

My head throbs. I touch my face, my chest. My fingers brush over torn fabric — a rough shirt too big for me, stained and thin. My skin feels smaller, my hands slender, my heartbeat faster. It’s like I’ve shrunk.

I stumble to my feet — or try to. My legs give out immediately, and I crash back down onto the straw. The chains clink loudly, echoing through the room.

“Please don’t move too much,” the boy says quickly. “If Lady Emily sees you out of your corner again, she’ll—she’ll—”

He doesn’t finish the sentence. He just looks down, trembling.

Lady Emily.

The name burns in my ears — familiar in a way I can’t place. And then I remember the voices. The gossip before I woke up.

The kind heroine who saved the kingdom.

Wait.

Emily. Golden magic. Kind heroine.

This… this is that story. The one my classmates were talking about.

It can’t be.

“I…” My throat feels raw, like I haven’t spoken in years. “Where am I?”

The boy glances toward the door before whispering.

“The North Wing servant quarters. You’re… you’re Lady Emily’s new slave.”

The word slave hits me like a punch to the chest.

Slave. Not servant.

Not assistant.

Slave.

My hands shake. My breath comes out uneven.

This isn’t peace. This isn’t heaven.

Did I really die just to end up like this?

I curl into myself, pulling my knees close. The chains rattle softly. For a long moment, I just stared at the floor — the cracks, the dirt, the faint bloodstain near the wall — and tried not to cry.

“It’s okay,” the boy whispers, inching closer. “She won’t come till morning. You can rest, Samuel.”

Samuel. That name again.

I want to tell him that’s not my name — that I’m Jack.

But when I open my mouth, nothing comes out. The world tilts again, heavy and unreal. The name echoes in my mind, growing louder until it doesn’t sound wrong anymore.

Samuel.

Maybe that’s who I am now.

As my vision fades back into darkness, I hear footsteps in the hall. Sharp. Confident. A woman’s voice hums beyond the door, and the boy flinches.

“She’s coming,” he whispers, eyes wide.

Then everything goes black.

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