(Ava’s POV)
The first thing I felt was the cold.
It settled into my bones like a parasite, gnawing from the inside out. I stirred, blinking into blackness, the scent of mold and iron thick in the air. My wrists ached. Shackles—tight ones. My shoulders were pinned awkwardly behind my back. The floor beneath me was stone. Rough. Wet. Something dripped steadily nearby, a leak or perhaps blood. I wasn’t sure which I preferred.
I sat up with effort, my ribs screaming in protest, and hissed through clenched teeth. The last thing I remembered was fire—Emily’s voice yelling—and then nothing. I must have blacked out during the ambush.
My fingers, still tingling from the residual effects of a stun blade, twitched uselessly against the cuffs. Hollow Fang. The sigil on that mercenary’s arm hadn’t
