EMBER’S POV
“Look at you.” His voice has gone soft. Almost loving. Like he’s reciting wedding vows instead of my death sentence. “Still fighting. Still struggling. Still thinking someone’s going to save you.”
I can’t breathe. Can’t scream. Can’t do anything but scratch uselessly at his arms while the gray at the edges of my vision spreads inward, eating everything, swallowing the world.
“I told you, Ember. I told you so many times.” His grip tightens until I can feel my pulse pounding against his fingers. “You belong to me. You’ve always belonged to me. And if I can’t have you…”
He leans in close, his lips almost brushing my ear, and whispers the words that shatter something inside me.
“You should have died with that baby.”
The world goes white.
Not from lack of oxygen. Not from the
