Chapter 223

LUMINA The dungeons beneath the pack's compound were carved from solid stone, designed to hold the most dangerous supernatural beings while they awaited judgment. As we descended the narrow stairs, the temperature dropped noticeably, and the air grew thick with the scent of despair and old blood.   Andy sat in the center of the reinforced cell, her wrists still bound by Carol's lead--lined cuffs that suppressed her magical abilities. She looked smaller somehow, diminished without the aura of power that had once made her so terrifying. But when she looked up and saw me approaching, her lips curved into that same cruel smile that had haunted my nightmares for a year.   "Well, well," she said, her voice carrying that familiar mocking tone. "If it isn't the grieving mother, come to visit the woman who destroyed her perfect little life."   I felt Xenois tense beside me, his protective instincts flaring at the deliberate provocation. But I held up a hand to stop him from intervening. This co