When consciousness finally returned, it did so like a slap of winter savage, unforgiving. My entire body trembled from the raw bite of cold air. Aronne hadn’t been lying. Whatever venomous magic he unleashed when he sank his teeth into me had ignited something monstrous inside an unholy fire that devoured me from the inside out. I burned until I went mad with it, until death seemed like the only mercy left in the world.

But death never came.

Instead, relief flooded me like a tide breaking ...