Ember Frost’s POV

The strength I’d taken in over time didn’t feel like something I controlled anymore. My body didn’t stay broken the way it should’ve. My healing was faster than it should’ve been—too fast to feel normal, but not fast enough to erase the damage completely.

Right now, I couldn’t tell if that was something to be grateful for or something that would eventually turn on me.

Time passed in uneven stretches. The pain didn’t return all at once—it came back in ...