After Inara stopped crying, sleep overtook her and she found herself in her wedding dress, studying her reflection in the mirror at the dresser in Lemuel’s room.
It then occurred to her that he had earlier yanked her wedding dress off her. How could she be wearing it now? Then it dawned on her that she was in a dream. She gasped as words formed a sentence across the surface of the mirror like smears of dripping blood.
The Last Dare is Lifted, it read.
Inara’s eyes shot open, confirming that she had been dreaming. Then she sat up and winced from the aftermath of pain Lemuel had inflicted on her earlier. Quickly, she turned her body so she was laying back on her side and curled herself into a fetal position.
She wished he would come and take the pain away like he had done the other time
