Chapter: 86

SERAPHINA'S POV

It was an enjoyable morning. The sun streamed through my kitchen window, and for the first time in months, I felt light. Hopeful.

Every muscle screamed in protest as I measured flour, but the pain had become an old friend-one whose constant presence meant progress.

I had started training with Maya, and if Lucian was a sadistic bastard, then she was the devil herself.

"You've got more in you, Sera!" she'd snarled yesterday, her boot nudging my trembling thighs during yet another impossible drill. "Dig deeper!"