Chapter 108

Lisa’s POV

The walls of the cell were stone—cold, damp, and old enough to remember war. They didn’t creak like the rotted beams of my father’s dungeons; they were silent, oppressive. Unyielding. I’d been here less than a day, but time stretched thin in a place like this.

No one talked about the amount of boredom that came with staying in a place like this. I felt like I was going insane by the hour.

I sat on the narrow cot, legs folded beneath me, hands clasped tight in my lap. There was straw on the floor, clean enough, and a single tray of food had been slid through the iron bars earlier. I hadn’t touched it. Not because I was above eating their food, but because hunger felt distant—muted. Like everything else.

I wasn’t sure what hurt more: being imprisoned by strangers or the way Jeremy had walked away from me.

Mate. The word throbbed in my chest like a bruise. When he’d pinned me against that tree in the woods, I’d felt the pull too. Not just instinct. Not just fear. Something dee