Evangeline’s POV:
Darkness.
My eyes shot open, and the first thing I registered was pain—searing, brutal, mind-shattering pain. It pulsed through my skull like a thousand knives stabbing into my brain, sharp and unrelenting. I gasped, but the sound came out muffled, swallowed by something—something stuffed inside my mouth.
Panic struck fast and merciless.
I tried to scream, but all I managed was a weak, strangled noise, a pathetic whimper that barely echoed in the suffocating void around me. My breaths came fast, frantic, my chest heaving as I struggled against the overwhelming darkness.
My hands jerked at my sides, only to meet cold, unyielding restraint. Rope. Tightly wound around my wrists, biting into my skin. I tried my legs next, but they were just as useless—numb, pinned down.
