PERSEFONE POV
“...before it’s too late.”
Thane’s words dragged me out of sleep slowly.
My body stayed perfectly still beneath the blankets while my brain struggled through exhaustion hard enough to understand what the hell I’d just heard.
Reject us.
For one horrible second, I genuinely hoped I was still dreaming.
Then Thane spoke again.
“She has to reject us before this gets worse.”
The crack in his voice sliced straight through my chest.
Fear.
Not anger.
Not disgust.
Fear.
And somehow that felt worse.
Because Thane Tartarus terrified me a little.
He terrified everybody.
The idea of him sounding scared over me should not have hurt like a knife twisting slowly between my ribs.
But it did.
I kept my breathing slow automatically, eyes still closed while panic and confusion t
