**CH 16
Aria’s world dissolved into a soft, suffocating blur.
Darkness didn’t just swallow her — it pulled her under, like invisible hands dragging her down into a silent abyss. Her last conscious image burned at the edge of her mind: Ethan’s arms around her… his heartbeat frantic… his voice trembling… and behind Lysandra, that second, larger shadow.
A man.
A threat.
An unknown monster waiting at the edge of her fear.
Then everything snapped shut like the final blink of dying light.
---
Sound returned first.
Broken, scattered sound.
A low hum.
Footsteps.
Metal clinking.
Someone’s uneven breathing — not hers.
Hot… trembling… ragged.
Ethan.
“Aria…” His voice cracked through the darkness, rough and shaking in a way she’d never heard before. “Aria, stay with me. Please.”
She t
