Aria…

For one eternal heartbeat, everything stood still.

The sound of steel against flesh broke the silence — soft, final, terrible.

Pain tore through me. Hot, searing, unstoppable. Giselle’s blade slid between my ribs, shallow but deadly, its edge biting deep. At the same instant, my dagger found its mark — sinking into her stomach. Her eyes widened, mouth parting in shock.

We froze there — two mirrors of pain and fury — until the world seemed to exhale.

Giselle’s ...