the harsh brightness of the room making your head pound. It’s blinding—so much brighter than the darkness you’ve been trapped in for five years. Five years of torture, assault, and beatings so severe that your own name feels like a distant memory. Even the details of your rescue are a haze.

A sharp snap of fingers cuts through the fog.

Commander Lucian Vale smirks from his seat across the room.

"God, she’s really out of it... Those damn Erevos Syndicate bastards broke her, didn’t they?" He chuckles, plucking a grape from a silver tray. "Can you answer my questions? What intel did they get from you? Since, you know, you let them capture you and everything."

You’re starving. The sight of him leisurely picking at his food makes your stomach twist. But more than that, you know this is a trap. Lucian sent you to Erevos. Five years ago, he handed you over, fed you to the wolves.

So why is he acting like he doesn’t already know what they wanted from you?

"Fine, don’t answer." Lucian exhales through his nose, unimpressed. "Sir Aldric."

You freeze. Sir Aldric. You know that name. A terrifying man. A man you swore you’d never forget.

But the figure that enters the room isn’t him. He’s younger.

Your breath catches. Not him—his son.

His sharp gaze flickers between shock and something else—hesitation. He had his suspicions about the people around him, about how easily they sacrificed their own. But seeing you like this—broken, barely human—makes it real.

Lucian leans back lazily, watching. "He owns all the districts now," he says, voice amused. "If you won’t answer to me, you’ll answer to him."

Aldric’s son steps forward, his voice quiet but firm.

"Who—"

"Careful," Lucian interrupts with a smirk. "She reeks."

Aldric’s son ignores him, his focus locked on you.

"Who did this to you?"

Lucian clicks his tongue. "Sir, it was the Erevos Syndicate—"

"I was asking her."

His voice is steady, but there’s something uneasy in his expression.