Narine’s POV
The door clicked shut behind him with a soft thud, and only then did I let myself breathe.
I reached for another banana. The moment my teeth sank into it, that same sweet, vibrant burst of flavor lit up my tongue again. I couldn’t remember bananas ever tasting like this, ripe, tender, and oddly comforting. Maybe it was just the contrast, the jarring shift from starvation and IV drips to real food.
But food was fleeting. Comfort, more so. And as the silence filled the room once again, the overwhelming reality returned.
I couldn’t get comfortable here.
I didn’t belong in this gilded cage. I was nothing but a leech. That was what Ama would always hiss into my ear when I fell short of her standards, or when I flinched from her cane.
“Useless mouth. Living off my pity.”
He
