**Gaia's POV**

The water worked faster than I'd dared hope.

Each bottle Ryan brought me was another step toward freedom. The cool liquid flushed through my system, diluting the silver poison, awakening Selene's dormant strength. I felt it building—not fully restored, but enough to matter.

Ryan set down the seventh empty bottle with a satisfied smirk. "There. Should be plenty wet for me now." He turned to retrieve something from a nearby ...