Chapter 5

5

ARIA

I stared at the woman in front of me.

Bloodshot eyes, blotchy cheeks, short hair.

She looked like me but she wasn’t. She was weak and pathetic.

I stared at my own reflection in the mirror. I tried to find myself in it but couldn’t. The woman in the mirror wasn’t me.

She was a stranger.

An impostor.

Weak.

That wasn’t me.

I let out a shaky breath, my eyes still staring back into the blue orbs of the woman in the mirror but my mind was spinning.

Black dots assaulted my vision, my vision blurred and I swayed on my feet. My eyes rolled back to the back of my head and I fell into darkness.

I slumped in the arms of a destroyer. My destroyer.

***

When I woke up bundled in silk, I was aware of my unfamiliar surroundings. I was aware that my life was ruined.

Shattered.

Destroyed.

Burnt to ashes.

I laid there, staring at the ceiling, wondering what to do next. I didn’t know where I was. I had no idea of what was going to happen to me.

My eyes were dry, so was my throat. My heart was surpr