EMILIA’S POV

The first thing I felt was weight.

A heavy, suffocating weight pinning my body down.

When I opened my eyes, everything was blurry—shapes bleeding into darkness, shadows swimming like liquid. My lashes fluttered, slow and weak, and for a moment I didn’t understand where I was…or why my limbs felt so heavy.

What happened?

Why does everything feel…wrong?

My last memory came back in pieces—the room, the cold chill, that strange sense of being watched. My breath hitching. The hair on my arms rising.

Then—

Nothing.

Just a soft wave of warmth running through my veins, so warm it felt like it lulled me to sleep. My knees...