The fire burned low in the hearth, throwing soft shadows across the room. Ariana sat curled on the edge of the couch, her arms wrapped around her knees, eyes rimmed red. Xavier stood near the window, arms crossed, his jaw set like stone. I sat in the armchair opposite them both, staring at the scuffed floor, the silence between us thick with everything that hadn’t yet been said.No one spoke for a while. We were all too exhausted — emotionally gutted. Sophia’s words still rang in my head, her madness clinging to the walls of the dungeon like rot. She had played all of us, watched us burn from within, and even now, she smiled in her cell as if she had won.“She was never one of us,” I muttered finally. “Not really.”Ariana’s head lifted, her voice hoarse. “She pretended well.”
Last Updated : 2025-06-22 Read more