Zane~
I woke in a choking gasp.
It was like I had been submerged underwater for hours—no, days. My lungs fought to expand, my chest heaved like I had been held down by shadows. Sweat clung to every inch of my skin, soaking the sheets beneath me. I sat up too fast, disoriented, my mind still swimming in some kind of abyss.
I blinked.
The room was dim. The air, strangely still. Not the towering marble pillars of the palace. No golden chandeliers. No faint sounds of soldiers patrolling outside.
This was... my private estate.
The one no one knew about except my father, Natalie, and Sebastian.
Why the hell was I here?
I threw off the sheets, wincing at the ghost of pain that still lingered in my bones. My hands shook. My breath came fast.
I remembered.
Shadow.
The parasite of a god that had coiled around my soul like a serpent, draining me, mocking me from inside my own skin. He was the reason I'd been reduced to a hollow shell, fevered and fading. And now... now he was quiet.
