Chapter 14
Yuta woke slowly, his body feeling strangely light despite the horrific events of the previous day. He reached for his companion immediately, his wandering fingers searching the warm spot where the snake had curled against him through the night.
"Shadow?" he whispered, sitting up carefully. "Where are you?"
But the space beside him was empty, cold even. The black serpent with the burning red eyes was nowhere to be found. Yuta looked around the cramped slave quarters, checking under his thin mattress, behind the other sleeping forms, even in the darkest corners where a snake might hide.
Nothing.
An intense panic gripped his chest. Had something happened to his only friend? Had the guards found Shadow and killed him? The thought made his heart race with genuine terror—not for himself, but for the beautiful creature who had offered him companionship in this place of suffering.
