Selene's POV
The ripples in the pool slowly faded.
Kael was gone.
The courtyard was silent again. The only sound was the wind brushing softly against my wet hair.
I stayed where I was kneeling on the cold tiles, arms wrapped tightly around myself. My cloth was soaked through, clinging to my skin like it had been sewn onto me. Every part of me trembled—not from the cold anymore, but from something deeper.
Something hollow.
It felt like someone had carved out the inside of my chest and left nothing but silence.
My arm throbbed under the wet fabric. The brand. That cruel mark they burned into me like I was cattle. My knees ached from kneeling for so long. My pride? Gone. Shattered like glass. But none of that hurt as much as the question echoing inside my mind—the one that never stopped since they chained me.
Why?
Just that one word.
Why me?
Why this?
