Chapter 165

• Third Person’s POV
• All those years of pain, injustice, and silent despair finally erupted like a dam that could no longer hold. Riley’s sobs echoed within the room, raw and shattering, each cry dragging shards of anguish to the surface. Her shoulders trembled violently as she collapsed over the embroidery table, her fingers still stained with blood from the earlier prick, crimson blooming across the silk fabric like a cursed omen.
• Unbeknownst to her, Lucien Duskgrave had been standing quietly behind her for a long while.