AMARIS’S POV A scream tore through my throat as I clawed at my skin like a maniac, desperate to find relief—anything to ease the unbearable burn searing through me. My flesh was melting. Scalding. Blistering from the inside out. The invisible fire curled around my body, consuming me, licking at my bones, peeling away every part of me until only raw, aching agony remained. “STOP IT! STOP!” I choked, gasping between ragged sobs. The air was thick with rot and smoke, suffocating—every breath acrid as the heat pressed down vengefully against my lungs. “Amaris.” The voices whispered, hushed and distorted, weaving through the torture. I writhed against the flames, my body folding inward as if that would shield me from the inevitable destruction. The fire didn’t stop. It couldn’t. It want

