Lena's POV
I woke in the dark.
Not the gentle waking of someone who'd rested well. Not the slow rise from comfortable sleep.
This was sharp. Sudden. My eyes snapping open like my body had remembered something terrible.
The punishment.
The sounds came flooding back. The crowd gathering in the courtyard. The bells ringing. The crack of the whip cutting through the air. The screams.
Kaelen's screams.
And then the silence afterward. The heavy, awful silence of people who'd watched someone suffer and didn't know what to say.
I lay in bed, my body aching from the bruises Malakor's guards had given me. The room was dark. Silent. The palace hadn't stirred yet.
But I couldn't sleep anymore.
Guilt pressed down on my chest like a physical weight. Heavy. Suffocating.
I should have done more. Should have said more. Should have stood firmer when Malakor questioned me.
