bChapter /bb355 /b

KASMINE.

There was a thunderstorm inside

my skull.

My head throbbed with a heavy, pulsating ache, as if a thousand drums were pounding against my skull from the inside, sending a ripple of nausea through my body. My ears rang like a siren that refused to shut off.

I groaned softly, barely able to move. Every limb in my body felt wrong, heavy, disconnected, and cold.

So cold.

My spine arched instinctively, trying to curl in on myself, but… Wait… Was I on the floor? Why did it feel like ice was seeping into my bones? The surface beneath me was damp, and it bit into my skin like frost.

Immediately, my eyes snapped open, but I winced again.

The second I realized that something was terribly, terribly wrong, my eyes flew open.

Pain spread through my skull from the sudden movement, and I winced, curling slightly to shield myself.

My vision was blurry, but I squinted my eyes as panic took over me.

A whimper escaped my lips before I could stop it.

Where am I?

Panic rose fast. What… Oh, No.

Kester.

Thest thing I remembered was standing with him deep in the woods, where we were arguing about why he killed Jake. Then… There was a light. It bwas /ba blinding, burning light that consumed me whole.

And now… this?

The atmosphere felt wrong.

My chest heaved, and a sob built in my throat. My hands scrambled against the floor, searching for something… Anything. A wall or a door. Any way out.

Then, suddenly, someone cleared their throat.

In that instant, the room lit up, and everything came into horrifying rity.

My breath caught.

I wasn’t alone.

Across the room stood a man. No… a giant..

He towered over everything. His shoulders were massive, his chest broad and powerful beneath a ck, close–fitting vest. His skin was pale bbut /bbnot /bbsickly/bb.. /bmore like marble kissed by ash. His face…

Gods.

A thick, jagged scar shed across the left side of his face, cutting through his brow and curling toward the edge of bhis /bmouth blike /bbsome /bbcruel /bbartist’s /bsignature. His eyes were the color of dried blood. It was deep and dark red. And they were locked onto me with bunnerving /bbcalm/b.

His hair was a wild curtain of crimson that fell past his shoulders like a crown of fire.

Who the hell was this man? His very presence alone terrified me.

He didn’t even move. He just stood there, with his arms folded across his chest, and Iris gaze pinned to me like I was some strange creature bhe’d /bbcaught /bd transformation.

bI /bcouldn’t breathe.

My heart was sprinting.

No. It couldn’t be.

It couldn’t be.

“What…” The word slipped before I realized I’d spoken aloud. But then I forced myself to sit up straighter, even as my hands trembled violently against bthe /bfloor.

My mouth moved before my mind could catch up.

“…Nagel?”

My voice cracked, but I swallowed hard.

“Nagel Vale?”

His lips curled into a slow, menacing smile. It was very cold and empty, like someone who had studied human emotion and learned how to fake it. That smile didn’t reach his eyes. It only deepened the horror of that scar and made him look even more like something born from nightmares.

And then he spoke in the most hauntingly terrifying, gravelly voice I’d ever heard.

“Nice to finally meet you… again, Kasmine.”

“Please… I just want to go home.”

My voice cracked as the words fell out in a whisper–turned–sob. “Why am I here?”

Tears burned hot trails down my cheeks, though there was nothing left in me bto /bcry out. My eyes were already swollen, aching from bthe /bendless stream of tears that hade and gone in waves since Nagel first walked out after our first horrifying interaction.

He hadn’t returned for hours. Maybe even a day.

I couldn’t tell anymore. There were no windows in this room. No light except for the cold artificial glow that came on and off whenever someone entered. No food. No water.

So many thoughts ran through my mind. I had a lot of time time to unravelpletely… To think… To panic… To remember Kester’s body crumpling to bthe /bground, to wonder if he was even still alive.

And to feel the dull, sickening ache in

I needed rity.

my

womb.

My arms curled around my midsection instinctively.

The baby.

“What do you want? Please…” My legs trembled as I tried to stand, but the bsecond /bI lifted my bweight/bb, /bbthe /bworld btilted /bbviolently /bbto /bbthe /bbside/bb. /bbDizziness/b, over me like a bwave/b, and I dropped bback /bdown, catching myself just in time before bmy /bbhead /bmet the bfloor /b

I was starving, weak, and afraid.

I hadn’t eaten anything at all since whenever I get here. And that won’t good for the Baba

Nagel just sat on a simple wooden stoel like a man observing a specimen in a cage

His arms were folded, legs rxed, and that massive frame hunched forward just slight

He was watching me intently in a disturbing way

His blood–red eyes hadn’t left me once since he walked in. I could barely breathe under that gaze. He didn’t need dust bowym wid felt like iron shackles.

Answer me! I screamed, mming my palm against the floor. What the fuck do you want?!

For a heartbeat, I saw a look in his eyes that suggested he didn’t like it when people raised their voices at him.

But the look disappeared instantly, reced by his usual cold demeanor.

He leaned back slowly and took a slow breath before finally, in that haunting, gravelced voice that seemed to scrape van die very as i wee “Are you always this curious, Kasmine?”

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I was starving, weak, and afraid.

”

I hadn’t eaten anything at all since whenever I got here. And that wasn’t good for the baby.

Nagel just sat on a simple wooden stool like a man observing a specimen in a cage.

His arms were folded, legs rxed, and that massive frame hunched forward just slightly with his elbows resting on his knees.

He was watching me intently in a disturbing way.

His blood–red eyes hadn’t left me once since he walked in. I could barely breathe under that gaze. He didn’t need chains to keep me still. His presence alone. felt like iron shackles.

“Answer me!” I screamed, mming my palm against the floor. “What the fuck do you want?!”

For a heartbeat, I saw a look in his eyes that suggested he didn’t like it when people raised their voices at him.

But the look disappeared instantly, reced by his usual cold demeanor.

He leaned back slowly and took a slow breath before finally, in that haunting, gravelced voice that seemed to scrape even the very air I breatheb, /bbhe /bbsaid/b. “Are you always this curious, Kasmine?”