Sasha’s POV
Pain had a voice now.
It no longer whispered. It screamed. It keened through my ribs like a violin string stretched too tight, warping into something broken, raw. It echoed in my spine, thrummed in my teeth, pulsed behind my eyes like drumbeats of torment.
It was the only thing that hadn’t left me.
I didn’t know how many days I’d been in this pit of hell. Time didn’t pass here. It bled. It melted, twisted into loops of agony where seconds felt like eternities. Every moment was sharpened to a blade.
My face had long since gone numb from the bruising, only to burn again when the swelling returned. My lips were split open, raw flesh crusted in brown-black blood. Every blink stung. Every breath rattled through cracked ribs and lungs dry from screaming.
But worse than the pain
