Sera's POV
After the heavy door clicked shut and his footsteps faded down the corridor, my knees finally gave out. I slid down the hard wooden paneling until I was sitting on the cold floor, pulling my knees tight to my chest as the sobs wracked my entire body.
I just wanted to be free. I didn't care what that looked like anymore.
My whole life had been lived inside a cage, the bars just changing shape as I was handed down from one tyrant to the next. First my father, who saw my amplifier bloodline as a family tool to be harvested. Then Lucian, who chained me to his throne and drained every drop of life I had to fuel his empire. And now Gideon—holding me in a gilded room, talking about true mates while keeping me locked away from the rest of the world.
I had tried to end it once, I he
