Winter’s POV

Cool water touched my tongue, and I drank greedily despite the ache in my throat. It helped, a little.

When she stepped back, the room fell quiet again.

I stared at the ceiling, blank and white, my thoughts finally catching up to reality.

My husband-to-be had almost killed me.

The thought settled in my chest with a hollow kind of disbelief. It was almost laughable, in a dark, pathetic way. This was my life now. Traded, cornered, beaten, and nearly strangled, all under the guise ...