She awoke suddenly, pressure resting heavy on her chest, making every draw of air a new experience in pain. Her hands pressed to her face, she attempted to calm her panicking heart.

The dream had placed her back on the Aethership, back in her prison, back with the dull painful ache in her limbs and the throbbing presence in her mind. The ambient magic on the ship along with the reprogramming that she was being force fed on a daily basis had fogged her thoughts near completely. The thought of surviving had almost wavered. Almost. And her dream brought her back there, for the third time in almost as many days.

The tension strung across her shoulders wasn't entirely due to a reoccuring nightmare. She was doubting her ability to survive again.

Never before had she felt that her command was a total sham. It was falling apart at the seams, and her crisis of faith was only making the situation worse. It was an unsettling feeling, to doubt, when the rest of her life had been marked by loyalty unrivaled and word as good as law. She wanted to believe blindly as she once had, but her heart ached when she thought of her misguided faith.

It was spiraling all around her. If her men weren't walking time bombs just awaiting a chance to explode, there was the subtle undercurrent of someone outside the Fel'Solan ranks moving against her command. Her patrols through Silvermoon felt more like a puppet theatre than any real protection. Protecting the Silver City, protecting the House, and protecting her friends. Never had the task felt more difficult.

She shivered in the silent room, her skin crawling and itching as her body begged for another trip to the Netherstorm. To wallow in the untapped mana that steamed up from the crumbled wasteland, to feel it seep deep inside. With some effort she willed the craving away, desperate to keep it hidden among her other secrets. Every morning, there was this very same routine, yet the wall she'd built around it would crumble a little more and never be quite the same strength the next day.

Never had the room felt more lonely.