Ariella’s POV
I exhaled sharply, the sound shaky even to my own ears.
My mind was already made up.
This was it. No more running, no more hiding in the shadows like some scared little girl.
Whatever monster was behind me, I was done playing peek-a-boo with it. I turned around fast, shoulders squared, ready to look at whatever nightmare this palace wanted to throw at me right in the face again.
My eyes widened so hard I felt the stretch in my sockets as it landed on the figure behind me.
It wasn’t another version of me. It wasn’t a ghost or some twisted hallucination.
It was her.
The witch.
The same one who had been standing beside the former queen in that hidden room days ago. The one who had locked eyes with me across the space and given me that slow, knowing smile like she alre
