Selene's eyes flew open, and she gasped for air. Her chest heaved as though she’d been drowning and had just broken through the surface. Pain surged through her lower body, sharp and unrelenting, pulling a scream from the depths of her soul.
“AHHHH!”
Her scream echoed through the room, raw and piercing.
“Selene!” Alaric’s voice cracked as he pushed himself closer to her side, relief and terror flooding him at once. He had been whispering to her, begging her to come back to him, and now she was awake—but the agony in her expression filled him with dread.
Mrs. Weaver, who had been meticulously arranging her tools moments earlier, allowed herself a brief sigh of relief when Selene stirred awake. But the fragile calm in the room was shattered by Selene’s anguished cry.
“Please… save my ba
