Olivia Martins

Pain brought me back.

A slow, throbbing ache bloomed in my skull like something had cracked open inside. My eyelids were heavy, but when I forced them apart, the world swam: darkness, flickering light, the tang of smoke, and... blood.

I was upright. Tied.

My arms were strapped to the sides of a chair with something rough and tight—rope, maybe, or leather—and my legs were bound at the ankles. Panic hit me fast and sharp, and I twisted, but the ...