Chapter 161

OLIVIA'S POV Everything blurred. My limbs were heavy, as if they were dipped in wet cement, every breath a battle I wasn't sure I could win. The cold stone floor kissed my cheek, sticky with blood—mine, hers, I couldn't tell anymore. The copper tang filled my nostrils, but it was the silence that scared me the most. A silence before something ancient stirred. I blinked—or at least, I thought I did. My eyelids felt as if they were stitched shut, and the pain in my ribs pulsed like a second heartbeat. I could hear Evelyn's staggered breaths somewhere nearby—closer now. Her boots scraped against the floor. "You're still alive?" she sneered. "How many times do I have to break you before you finally give in?" I wanted to reply. I really did. But the words wouldn't come. My body didn't respond. I was slipping—drifting somewhere dark, somewhere deep, when suddenly— A spark ignited inside me. At first, it was just a flicker, a gentle pulse, like a memory waking up. But then it grew, unfurling