AISLYNThe shadows in the room twitch, just barely, as if they heard me.

My chest rises slowly, and the anger simmering inside me finally boils over, steady and controlled. Not wild. Not desperate. But sharp, focused, deadly.

I’m not scared.

Not anymore.

Fear died a long time ago, somewhere between being sold off by my own sister like a worthless thwart and being betrayed by a man whom I loved with everything in me.

Now there’s only purpose.

I lift the key to my chest, inhaling as the faint ...