GRACE POV
The dungeon didn’t end where I expected it to.
After the chamber with the chains—after the weight of old suffering pressed itself into my skin like a memory that didn’t belong to me—the tunnel narrowed again, but this time it felt less accidental and more deliberate, the walls smoothing out as if someone had taken the time to shape them, to guide whoever walked here exactly where they wanted them to go.
I didn’t like that.
Hakira didn’t either.
She prowled under my skin, restless and irritated, her awareness brushing against the stone like she was testing it for weaknesses, for lies, for teeth waiting to snap shut. The light in my chest stayed contained but tense, like a muscle held too long in one position, ready to cramp, ready to explode.
We were heading right into a tra
