(Ava’s POV)
The silence in this place wasn’t natural.
Even underground, there should’ve been the subtle creak of metal, the scurry of rats, maybe the hum of electricity. But here, in this cramped cell of stone and shadows, there was nothing. Just the steady drip of water from some unseen crack above and the faint echo of my breath—slower now. Calmer. At least on the outside.
Inside, I was coiled tension.
I sat against the cold wall, my knees pulled tight to my chest. My wrists ached where they’d cuffed me earlier, the steel still warm with my body heat. The bruises mottling my arms and ribs told the story of the last twenty-four hours, but they weren’t the part of me that hurt the most.
It was the betrayal that throbbed deeper.
Rhea. The girl I once trusted in the faction. The girl I
