Isla’s POV
The study felt like a cage, the walls pressing in as I curled tighter into the corner, my knees drawn up to my chest.
My hands trembled, not just from the cold chill seeping through the stone floor, but from the name that had just shattered the air, Lucien.
The memory of his cold gray eyes, the pain that had left me broken clawed at me, dragging me back to that night I’d fought so hard to forget.
My breath hitched, and I buried my face in my hands, trying to steady the panic rising in my throat.
Killian’s red eyes had burned into me, his voice so loud when he’d guessed the truth.
“He’s the one who left you half-dead by that river, isn’t he?” I couldn’t answer, couldn’t let the words spill out, not when they’d mean admitting how close I’d come to dying, and why.
I ne
