Ares’s POV

Pain changes shape when it lingers too long.

It stops being sharp—it becomes quiet, heavy, and familiar.

That’s what recovery felt like.

A slow, silent punishment.

The doctors said I was healing faster than expected, that my lungs were strong, that my burns were responding well to treatment. But none of them knew that the real wound wasn’t on my skin. It was somewhere deeper—where no one could reach it.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the fire again. The heat, the ...