Dawn

PROLOGUE

No one told her dying would feel like this.

Quiet. Slow. Ugly.

She lay on the rotting straw bed at the edge of the brothel, wrapped in her own sweat, blood, and silence. Her once silky hair stuck to her skin, her lips cracked and dry. Every part of her ached, it wasn’t just her body. Her soul hurt.

Dawn had been the most desired woman in the city once. Men would fight just for a chance to sleep with her. Five men a day was what she took every day. Thirty minutes for each.

At 17, she thought she was lucky when the brothel master bought her. He promised freedom after a few years of good work.

She believed him.

She believed a lot of things.

Now, at 26, her body was giving out — and no one was coming to help. Not the master. Not the guards. Not the other girls. In fact, they looked relieved when she got sick.

The competition was gone. The favorite was dying. And they were happy.

She coughed, something wet and thick rising in her throat. She didn’t know what illness this was, only that it was dragging her under like a weight tied to her feet.

In the last hours of her life, she didn’t think about lovers or gold. She thought about regret.

If she had played her cards right… if she had seduced a nobleman, married a merchant, charmed someone with power… maybe she wouldn’t be dying like this. Unwanted. Filthy. Forgotten.

She closed her eyes. The darkness welcomed her without hesitation.

---

The rooftop smelled like rust, dust, and decay. The edge of the building crumbled beneath her sneakers, but she didn’t move back.

22-year-old Dawn stood still, staring out at the city that had never loved her.

She had been born into a toxic home. Raised to believe she was nothing unless someone else said she was something. Bullied. Mocked. Tossed around by people who claimed to care.

And then he happened.

He made her laugh. Made her feel seen. She believed him. She stopped taking her antidepressants because she thought love would be enough.

It wasn’t.

It was a bet.

She heard them laugh about it in the hallway.

“Told you I could make her fall in love before midterms.”

They all laughed. She was beyond humiliated, Her heart was shattered, the feeling was so painful that she couldn't take it anymore.

She ran out of the building,her hands on her chest, stroking violently, hoping it would release the tightness in her chest.

she had been depressed for days, shutting everyone out, crying till she couldn't.

And now she was here. She for the first time in her life knew what she wanted.

The wind tugged at her clothes. Her hands were cold.

“All my life, I’ve let people decide who I should be.”

“But not this. This is mine.”

She stepped off the edge.