Tessa/jessica pov
“Just like your mother.”
Those words clung to me like smoke as I stepped out of the dungeon, refusing to leave no matter how hard I tried to push them away. My heart was still pounding from the moment he said them. My palms were damp, my fingers trembling, and the dim corridor ahead of me felt unreal — like I was walking inside a dream I didn’t want to be part of.
What did he mean?
How could he possibly know anything about her?
My mother died before I could even form memories of her. She had died saving me.
The cool hallway air brushed against my face, but it didn’t calm the heat pulsing faintly at my neck. The warm, golden mark Adrian left there — the one I tried not to think about — throbbed like a quiet reminder of something dangerous. Something I shouldn’t feel
