LOGINAria’s POVThe world wouldn’t stop spinning.I stayed on my knees, my palms pressed flat against the cold stone as I struggled to keep myself upright. Every breath scraped through my chest, uneven and shallow, and the warmth spreading beneath me told me what I already knew—I was still bleeding.Lyra
Then she stepped forward herself. “Fine,” she said, her voice deceptively calm. “If you’re all too incompetent to follow orders…”Her hand clamped around my arm. Hard.I gasped as pain shot up my side, my knees buckling slightly as she yanked me forward. “I’ll do it myself.”“Lyra, don’t—!” Mira sta
Aria’s POV“What?”The word tore out of me before I could stop it, sharp and breathless as it scraped against my throat. For a moment, I just stared at Lyra, convinced I had misheard her, that my mind was still clouded from the pain, from the blood loss, from everything that had happened, but she on
I let out a shaky breath, my hands curling into the thin blanket draped over me.That wasn’t it, that couldn’t be it.Damon didn’t do things halfway. He didn’t hover. He didn’t stay. He commanded, he left, he handled things.But staying by my side? That felt… personal.A groan slipped past my lips a
Aria’s POVPain was the first thing I felt.It sat in my bones, in my chest, in every breath I tried to take, like my body had forgotten how to exist without hurting. My lashes fluttered as I forced my eyes open, the world around me blurry at first, light too bright, sounds too distant.“Aria?” The
Damon’s POV“What?”The word left my mouth before I could stop it, sharp and disbelieving, like my mind refused to process what I had just heard. I stared at Lyra, searching her face for any sign that she didn’t mean it, that this was just another one of her empty threats thrown in the heat of the m







