Emilia's POV
The silence after his words was a blade pressed against my throat.
My body had locked itself into stillness, every muscle taut, my breath caught in the tight snare of fear. He was awake. He was furious. And he was looking at me like I had committed the greatest sin imaginable.
I should’ve begged for forgiveness. Should’ve bowed my head, shrunk into silence, prayed he’d spare me.
Instead, my mouth betrayed me.
“You know,” I blurted out, my voice too bright, too brittle, too desperate to fill the crushing quiet, “you’re… really strong. You pulled those chains out of the wall like they were twigs. I mean—wow.”
The word hung in the air like an awkward balloon about to pop.
His eyes narrowed, the fury in them hardening into ice.
Shit.
Slowly—deliberately—he swung his legs
