Chapter 10: Bound by Moonlight
Kaia’s POV
The stone pressed cold against my back, the kind of cold that seeped into bone and refused to leave. My little corner of existence was nothing more than a box carved from shadows — a cage too narrow to stretch, too shallow to dream.
A thin mattress sagged beneath me, fabric fraying at the edges, its dampness clinging like mildew to my skin. Water dripped somewhere above, each drop echoing against the silence like a cruel clock. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Sometimes I thought that was what they wanted — for the sound to carve me down until there was nothing left but obedience.
I drew my knees tighter to my chest. Tried to fold myself small enough to disappear. Tried to ignore the ache that bloomed in every bruise, every rib that still hadn’t healed right
