Ella’s POV
The door slammed shut, the sound sharp and final, followed by the grating scrape of the bolt sliding into place.
I froze. I knew then—I was trapped. No one was coming. No one could save me now.
My chest rose and fell in uneven, ragged gasps. The ropes dug cruelly into my wrists as I twisted against them, the fibers searing my skin with every desperate pull. Pain flared in my ankle, swollen and useless, a reminder that even if I broke free, I could not run.
Panic clawed up my throat as I dragged myself backward, inch by inch, until the wooden bedpost stopped me cold. The silence pressed in, broken only by the low crackle of flames licking in the hearth.
Then I heard it. Footsteps. Slow. Deliberate. Closing in from behind.
I did not need to look. I already knew that it was t
