The dress clings to me, heavy with blood and sweat and lies.
It’s still there—he’sstill there. The smell of wine and iron, the slick heat of his breath. My throat closes.
“Take it off,” I whisper, clawing at the silk.
The words scrape like broken glass.
“Now!” I beg, panic gripping me like unyielding fingers.
I claw at the ribbons, nails splitting, skin burning. The fabric won’t give.
“Take it off. Take it off. Take it off.”
It’s too tight. I can’t breathe. I can’t?—
The panic comes fast.Floodsme.
The world tilts; sound folds in on itself. My heartbeat becomes a war drum against my skull, shaking everything loose.
I slash and tear at the silk. Desperation climbing up my throat like some starved beast.
Hands reach for me.
Kael’s.
“Let me?—”
“Don’t touch me!”
The scream rips straight from somewhere animal. Raw, feral—like something I didn’t know could live inside me.
Everyone freezes.
The gown finally tears under my nails—threads snapping, seams shrieking. I rip it off like it’s burning me, stumbling backwards, half-naked in the cold.
The air hits my skin, and I still can’t breathe. My body doesn’t know it’s free.
I dig my fingers into my arms, trying to feelsomethingthat’s mine.
“You’re making yourself bleed, El. Stop. Please,” Kael’s voice is a desperate plea, and he reaches for me again.
“No!” I screech. “Not you. Not you.”
My nails come away red, blood seeping under them in the shape of crescent moons.
Kael pulls back.
But he crouches—careful, voice barely a sound. “You’re safe now.”
Safe.
That lie again.
“Don’t say that,” I choke. “Don’t—say—that?—”
Because the body doesn’t care about words. The bodyremembers.
He pulls off his cloak. Steps closer. Slow. Deliberate.
