CRYSTAL

Pain. That was all I feel now.

Raw pain tangled with shame that clawed its way up my chest, refusing to let me breathe. I stared at the broken woman reflected in the mirror; her hollow eyes, her trembling lips. Defeat stared back at me. Once again, I had lost to Winter.

Winter. The damned name was a curse carved into my nightmares.

Part of me still refused to believe that the woman standing beside Valtor tonight had truly been her. I had expected Winter to crumble once she ...