Instead, I let my fingers trail gently along her arm.
“Because you’re his world, Seph,” I said quietly. “Whether you believe it or not.”
Chapter 41
Seph
Pain.
Everywhere.
A living thing. A crushing thing.
Fear followed, sharp and metallic, scraping down the inside of my skull.
I was terrified.
Water surrounded me—too close, too tight—pressing against my skin, slipping into my mouth, choking me, swallowing every sound I tried to make.
But my eyes were open.
And through the blur of liquid I saw… a room.
White. Sterile. Wrong.
Glass between me and it. Machines blinking in artificial colours, beeping with no heartbeat to follow, wires twitching like insects feeding.
A body lay on a sheet across from me.
Still.
Too still.
A cold convulsion ripped through me.
No. No. No…
My spine arched or tried to—my body didn’t move the way it should.
I flinched inside the tank, a trapped bird beating useless wings.
I tried to kick, but my legs—my legs weren’t there.
Or they wouldn’t answer.
Or they belonged to someone else.
The water burned.
A bolt of agony shot through me—once. Twice.
Then again.
And again.
And again.
Like lightning stitched into my veins.
