Chapter 7: The Chosen
Kaia’s POV
I should’ve passed out hours ago.
My back burned, lashes still raw and open, every breath pulling fire through my lungs. I lay curled on the thin mat in the corner of the slave quarters, too exhausted to cry. Too tired to even curse.
But I wasn’t alone.
Not in the way I’d always been.
There was something in the air.
Not a sound.
Not a whisper.
Not a scent.
Just… weight.
Strength.
It wrapped around me slowly, like warm smoke curling through my ribs. My heartbeat steadied. My breath evened out. Not from healing—no, the pain was still there—but from something deeper.
Someone was holding me. Not with arms. With something else. Soul-deep.
At first, I thought the pain had finally broken me.
But when I let go—just for a moment—I felt it again.
A h
