Julian’s POV
She didn’t lie to me.
Aria’s right leg—the one I once thought healthy and nimble—now looked like a cruelly carved sculpture.
The shin bone twisted at an unnatural angle, the skin stretched tightly over the jutting bone, so pale it was almost translucent, like frozen porcelain.
The scar at the break looked like a hideous, winding centipede crawling across her skin, surrounded by dark red bruises.
A chill crawled up my scalp, and my heart clenched as if an invisible hand had seized it.
Every glance felt like a knife carving marks into my mind—the shock of what I saw nearly made me lose balance.
Everett’s fingers brushed gently over her injured leg, and even the air seemed to freeze with every movement.
He trembled slightly, unable to hide the horror in his eyes.
The pri
