Footsteps.
Slow. Deliberate.
They weren’t the hurried steps of someone coming to help. They were the steps of someone who already knew they’d won.
Whoever it was, it was definitely the one who shot me.
Panic gripped me harder than the pain ever could. I froze, every muscle tense, senses screaming.
And then I heard her.
“At last, I got you now.”
Her voice was smooth and cold, with a venomous satisfaction that made my skin crawl.
I looked up, breath shallow, and there she was.
Tall, poised, wrapped in layers of black that shimmered with an unnatural gleam. Her green eyes glowed, alive with dark delight. She didn’t just look victorious, she looked like she’d been waiting for this moment for a long time.
My lips parted before I could stop them.
“Ethenia...”
As the name escaped me,
