Kate awoke, a throbbing headache splitting her skull. She groaned, easing onto her elbows, her body stiff and aching as if it had fought a battle she couldn’t recall. Blinking through the haze, she scanned the room, her heart sinking. This wasn’t her chamber—it was her parents’ old room, once warm with woven tapestries and family keepsakes, now a cold prison of opulence. Gilded vases and serpent-wolf banners replaced her mother’s touch; the air reeked of Castiel’s dominance. Her gaze dropped to her naked body, small bruises blooming on her skin like cruel whispers of the night before. She couldn’t remember details after Isabeth’s drugged drink, but her body’s memories screamed—Castiel’s violation, a truth seared into her flesh.
Her torn nightdress lay in shreds, useless. Castiel’s closet
