Chapter 295

• Riley’s POV
• The scalding water hit me like molten steel. Pain flared across my skin, white-hot and consuming. I screamed, guttural and raw, the sound tearing from my throat as I curled into myself on the cold floor. My body, already weakened from surgery, could barely withstand the onslaught. Blisters erupted instantly, the scent of burnt flesh mixing with iron from the cuts and scrapes I already bore.
• Selene Ashford didn’t even flinch. She laughed—high-pitched, cruel, like a wolf teasing prey. Her eyes glittered with that familiar malice, sharp and predatory.