Betty's POV. 

The High Priestess left the chamber silently, her robes trailing like shadows behind her. 

The door closed with a soft thud, and suddenly, the room felt too large and too quiet for my thoughts.

I sank into the chair beside Damien’s bed, fingers twisted together so tightly my knuckles hurt. 

The words she’d said, “You may not survive.” kept ringing through my head like a curse of their own.

Damien, still fragile, still pale and still forcing a heartbeat through a ...