Chapter 131~ The Girl in the Corner

《》Selene’s POV

I waited for Joran to return, pacing the length of the room. The silence pressed in, thick and suffocating, but it wasn’t the quiet that unsettled me. It was the echo of Ansel’s words. They wouldn’t leave me alone. Her voice, her eyes—too daring, too bold—haunted me like a thorn under the skin.

She was forgetting her place. That much was clear. I told myself I would deal with her when the time was right. Maybe sooner than that. But no matter how many times I replayed the thought, it didn’t soothe the agitation inside me.

Instead, something else rose—unwanted, intrusive.

A flash.

The air smelled damp, like mold and smoke. The walls of the cottage were cracked, weak. I saw myself—no, not myself, the child I had been—sitting curled in the corner, knees drawn tight. My small hands trembled as the door slammed open.

He came in then. The man. His boots heavy, dragging mud. My pulse spiked as if I were still there.

He didn’t look at me. He never did. His fury went