bChapter /bb263 /b

    Aurora’s P.O.V

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    My gaze darted around the dimly lit room, my heart hammering as I spotted Maggie, lying motionless to my side. Panic surged through me. I stumbled toward her, each step feeling like I was wading through thick, invisible fog. My breath came in sharp, uneven bursts as I stumble towards her, shaking her gently.

    “Maggie,” I whispered, my voice cracking as I untie her sessfully. “Wake up. We need to go.”

    She didn’t move.

    My stomach clenched painfully, fear threatening to paralyze me. I pressed my fingers to her pulse, searching for that small, precious sign of life. A second passed. Then another.

    And then–weak, but there.

    She was alive.

    Relief flooded me so fast it nearly made me dizzy again, but I shoved it aside. We weren’t safe. Not yet. I turned, finding Ashton already moving toward the others, shaking off his own dizziness as he worked at the bindings. I swallowed hard and turned back to Maggie, gripping her shoulder.

    “You hear me?” My voice was firmer this time. “We’re getting out of here. But you have to wake up.”

    I didn’t know if I was saying it for her or for myself. Maybe both. Maybe neither. But I knew one thing–Caleb’s promise still echoed in my mind.

    Hold on.

    I just had to hold on.

    The air in the room was thick with something unnatural, a force that seemed to hum through the walls and coil around my limbs like invisible chains. Lucas and Harmona were lost in their chant, their voices intertwining in a rhythmic cadence that sent shivers down my spine. Their focus was absolute, their bodies stiff as if they were vessels for something far beyond humanprehension. For a moment, I almost believed they wouldn’t notice us at all. Almost.

    But the longer we remained in that room, the heavier the weight on my chest grew. Every breath felt Jabored, every step sluggish as if my very life was being drained from me. I clenched my fists, trying to push past the dizziness creeping into my mind. I couldn’t let this magic consume us.

    “We need to get out of here,” I said to Maggie, my voice hoarse and barely above a whisper. And finally, she opened her eyes tiredly, nodding her head as if she had been listening all along, but had

    been too tired to answer.

    I helped her off of the human sized stone b and steadied her with my arms around her waist. Next to me, Aston had managed to free Avery and they were steadily backing away from the stone table.

    I told Maggie to head to Ashton while I moved to thest of my half–siblings. I had to get her out of here before Harmona or Lucas realized that we had freed ourselves.

    My eyes darted to Violet, who was closest to where Lucas and Harmona stood, oblivious ito /iour presence–or so I thought.

    The moment I moved close enough to reach Violet, Lucas’s eyes snapped open, a furious glow igniting within them. A low, guttural growl tore from his throat, sending a sharp jolt of fear through my veins. Before I could react, his hand was around my neck, cold and unyielding.

    “How dare you try to ruin the ritual,” he snarled, his grip tightening like a steel vice. Then, without hesitation, he hurled me across the room.

    The impact was instant and brutal. My back mmed against the stone wall, pain detonating through my body like a violent storm. The force knocked the air from my lungs, and for a terrifying second, I couldn’t breathe. ck spots danced in my vision, threatening to drag me under.

    Then, suddenly, the door burst open. The heavy wooden frame nearly shattered from the force, and the sound of hurried footsteps filled the chamber. I heard voices–urgent, frantic–but I could only

    focus on one face.

    Caleb.

    Everything else blurred into the background. My pain, the suffocating energy in the room, even the fact that I could barely move–it all faded inparison to the sheer relief that surged through me at the sight of him. He was here. He hade to save me.

    But even as my heart lurched with a desperate kind of hope, I knew this wasn’t over. If anything, this was just the beginning.

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