Bounded by shadows

she refused to let the fear overwhelm her. She had been through so much-torture, humiliation, bet

ght, but her body was weak, worn from the ordeal that had brought her here. She could feel the pressure of the br

Not yet. There was a pause, an agonizing stretch of silence before the vo

, its tone like dark honey, thick and oppres

e could feel the blood on her skin, still damp from the rough treatment, but it wasn

e would not b

of strength within her, forcing her body to sit upright despite the ache in her bones. Her

time, her voice trembling but reso

arkened, as if the shadows themselves were pulling into it, strengthening it. There was

der in the small space. "You have already been claimed. An

her. Her skin prickled with the sensation of being watched by countless unseen eyes. The ma

is thing, whatever it was, take away her will, her defiance. She had been through worse, had been forc

ing like poison on her tongue, but she spoke them with

sence loomed larger, closer now, as though it were preparing to crush her resistance with its sheer weight. But

ckering with the faintest glimmer of curiosity. And then, with

d softly, almost pityingly, "but we w

one in the silence. The room seemed to breathe around her, the

atter. All that mattered was that she had survived this moment. She had with

e she

te the mark that burned against her