Chapter 18

• LOVETH’S POV
• A low groan escaped my lips as I stirred, my body heavy with exhaustion. Stretching my limbs, I expected the soft comfort of a bed beneath me, but my hand scraped against a rough, unyielding stone. My eyes flew open. I was back in the cell, my reality stark and unforgiving.
• The faint, soothing sound of a song reached my ears. I turned my head to see the girl in the corner, her voice hauntingly beautiful as it echoed off the cold walls. For a moment, I wondered if everything I had experienced—the whipping, the bandages, the fleeting comfort of a bed—had been a cruel dream. But no, I remembered too much. Every lash, every moment of terror, was etched vividly in my mind. My imagination wasn’t that cruel.