Aria (POV)
The darkness swallowed the room so completely it felt physical—thick, suffocating.
My heartbeat thundered in my ears.
The blackout wasn’t normal. Verrin City lost power sometimes during storms, yes—but this? This was too sudden. Too silent. No distant hum of generators, no emergency lights blinking on. Just pitch-dark stillness.
I took one shaky step back from the window.
Then another.
The faint sound I’d heard earlier echoed again.
A soft scrape.
Not inside my room.
Across the hall.
My breath hitched.
Damian.
He’d said he’d hear me breathe differently. My breathing was anything but normal now.
I moved toward the door but stopped inches from the handle. His warning rang in my head.
You don’t open the door for anyone but me.
The scrape came again—closer now.
My pu
