Seraphine did not remember how she made it back to Nightfall territory.
Only that the forest blurred around her. That her lungs burned. That every step felt like she was running through water, heavy and suffocating.
Her mind replayed the Aegis’s words on a cruel loop.
You were cultivated.
Your bloodline refined.
Designed.
She stumbled into the abandoned watchtower near the border and slammed the door behind her, sealing herself inside the crumbling stone structure. Darkness swallowed her whole.
Her legs finally gave out.
She collapsed to the floor, back against the wall, fingers clawing into her hair as her breath shattered.
“No,” she whispered.
Her chest hurt. Not from running.
From the truth.
Her entire life every memory, every pain, every loss had been orchestrated.
She squ
