DANNI POV
The room changed. They didn’t drag me this time. They led me. I knew I didn’t have a choice at the moment.
A circular chamber opened before me, carved from dark stone that seemed to drink in the light. Symbols etched into the floor pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat I couldn’t quite hear.
Was this magic? Something in my bones, maybe the wolf told me it was old. And it was hungry.
Chains, colder than metal, wrapped around my wrists. They weren't tight, but they felt final, as if they didn't need to hold me down. The room itself would do that for them.
Figures moved at the edges of the chamber. Under hooded clocks and dead Silent.
Glowing eyes watched as they waited.
And at the center—A raised platform.
“Step forward,” the calm one said.
I didn’t.
He didn’t repeat himself.
