Illyana's POV
I woke with a gasp, my heart pounding against my ribs, the remnants of a nightmare clinging to me like cobwebs. I took a deep, steadying breath, eyes frantically darting around the room, until it sank in where I was. It wasn’t just a nightmare, I was back where it all began. Back in the serpent’s den.
Sunlight streamed through the barred windows, casting long, distorted shadows across the opulent space, illuminating the details of my gilded cage – the four-poster bed draped in heavy velvet curtains, the walls adorned with tapestries depicting scenes of pastoral bliss, a cruel mockery of the prison I had found myself in once more. It was the same room, the same suffocating opulence, the same chilling reminder of my previous captivity in Luke’s mansion.
But this time, it wou
