Chapter 157. The Last Humiliation

Elena’s POV

Sleep didn’t come gently. It dragged me under and tossed me through fragments of a life that no longer belonged to me. I dreamed of playing with Eric’s wolf under the pine trees. I dreamed of sunlight filtering through tall pine trees, of laughter I couldn’t quite place, of standing beside Eric Thompson when the world still felt wide open. Before betrayal. Before the trial. Before the sentence.

Then my mother was there. She wrapped her arms around me from behind, holding me so tightly it almost hurt. Her voice brushed my ear; soft, urgent, achingly familiar. I strained to turn, to see her face, to anchor myself to her warmth…

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The sound tore straight through my skull. I jerked awake, my body slamming back into reality…the cold stone floor, the iron bars, the stink of rust and damp. Outside my cell, a man laughed. “Up already? Or do we need to drag you out?”

Another voice chimed in, cheerful and cruel. “Come on, Elena