Chapter 75. Beneath the Skin

Aria hadn’t told anyone about the voice that sounded like her own.

Not Cassandra. Not Jules. Not even Kade.

It felt like a secret best left buried, like saying it aloud would give it teeth. Would make it real. More real than the burn in her chest, more real than the dreams.

But it was already real.

She could feel it now, in moments of silence—not just watching her, but mirroring her. Like it was learning. Evolving. Becoming less a presence and more a second spine, coiled around her own.

And it was getting closer.

Every time she closed her eyes, she found herself back in that sea—black, endless, thick as ink. Sometimes it whispered. Sometimes it screamed. And once—just once—it laughed.

***

By the third day of training, Aria was shaking before they even began.

Not from fear.

From anticipation.

She hated that part. The hunger to feel it stir. The way her body leaned toward pain now, because that was where it lived—beneat