The weakness had become my constant companion. I lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, every breath feeling like an effort. My body was shutting down in slow, cruel stages, the dizziness when I tried to sit up, the way my hands trembled even when I wasn’t moving, the hollow ache in my stomach that had moved past hunger into something sharper and more terrifying. I drank water whenever Damien left the room, but it wasn’t enough. My mind kept drifting to Sofia. She had to be looking. She wouldn’t stop. That thought was the only thing keeping the darkness from swallowing me whole.
The door clicked open. I didn’t turn my head. I knew it was him. The air in the room always changed when Damien entered, heavier, charged with everything unsaid between us.
“Elena.” His voice was rougher today,
