Chapter 277

• Finn's POV
• The steam rose around me, thick and heavy, curling up from the scalding water that filled the vast bathtub. I'd never seen a place like this - marble floors shimmered beneath the flickering glow of golden sconces, their light dancing across walls covered in mosaics of wolves and crescent moons. A stained-glass window loomed high above, a snarling beast etched in hues of crimson and gold, its colors bleeding through the haze. The air choked with lavender, undercut by something feral and musky that clawed at my senses. It was extravagant, luxurious, elegant in a way that crushed me down, made me feel like a rat skulking through a Prince's hall. Lycidas' palace, reborn under his cruel hands, mirrored the Slave Market he'd forged - both dripping in opulence, both cages dressed up as treasures.
• I sank lower into the water, the heat biting at my scarred skin, but it couldn't melt the tension coiled in my gut. My fingers traced the edge of the tub, carved from a single slab of white marble, its wolf-head faucets glaring down at me like sentinels. I didn't belong here, not in this steaming paradise, yet here I was, waiting, always waiting for him.