Chapter 129 The Escape

• Willow's POV
• It was suffocating, the kind of air that presses against your chest and makes every breath feel like a battle. Every time I inhaled, the stale scent of stone and rust filled my lungs, and every time I exhaled, it felt like I was losing more of myself. The dungeon was cold, but the chill wasn’t from the walls or the floors, it was from the despair that had settled in the very marrow of my bones. I had finally gotten myself back, and the screaming had stopped when Lina clasped my head tightly and changed some words I barely heard.
• Daniel and Ella had finally fallen into a restless sleep, their small bodies curled up beside me. I could feel their warmth, their breath, but the sounds of their whimpers in their sleep reminded me of the horrors they had witnessed since the moment they were dragged into this nightmare. I hadn’t been able to protect them, not the way I had promised myself I would. And that fact weighed down on me like a stone in my heart.