The air was thick and cold when Aria opened her eyes.
The first thing she felt was the chill of stone beneath her cheek. The second was the weight of the darkness—it pressed in on all sides, so heavy she could barely breathe.
For a moment, she thought she was still dreaming. Then the chains rattled.
Her wrists were shackled above her head, glowing faintly with runes that pulsed like a heartbeat. She could feel them drinking from her power, siphoning the light inside her drop by drop until she felt hollow.
“You’re awake.”
The voice came from the far side of the chamber, low and smooth, like velvet soaked in poison.
Aria lifted her head, blinking until her vision adjusted. The man from the forest was there, leaning lazily against a black stone pillar. His hood was gone now, revealing a
