GRACE POV
The cuffs bit into my wrists the second Higgins stepped back, silver burning sharp and deliberate, a reminder that this wasn’t a conversation between equals no matter how politely he framed it. I rolled my shoulders once, testing the space, feeling the way the room reacted to me, the way the veil pulsed harder the moment my light stirred beneath my skin.
This place was unsettliing.
It seemed like it was waiting.
This was a wicked sanctum. The stone under my bare feet was warm, faintly vibrating, as if the earth itself had been forced to hold its breath for centuries and was finally being allowed to exhale.
Each passing moment the air pressed more against my chest, against Moira’s stone, against Hakira, like gravity had been recalibrated around me specifically.
I could feel
