ARIA POINT OF VIEW.

The silence after the storm felt unreal.

For a few seconds, I could hear nothing but my own breathing, sharp, uneven, echoing faintly against the damp stone walls of the dungeon. The iron chains around my wrists trembled from the aftershock of power that had surged through me. My muscles ached violently, wolfbane still dragging at my strength like invisible claws trying to pull me back into submission.

Across the corridor, the two guards lay crumpled against the stone wall ...