Tomorrow is the big day!

Alice didn't realize she was holding her breath until her lungs screamed for air. She let it out shakily, her back pressed to the cold door, her hands clenched at her sides. The walls of the room loomed around her, too narrow, too bright, too much.

Her cheek still throbbed from the slap. Her pride stung more. And worse than either was the hollow weight in her chest.

She had no power. No agency. Not with Pricillia. Not with Aurora. Not even with herself.

And Hades? Hades was... another problem entirely.

Her heart was still racing from that confrontation. The way he said it: "As long as you live in my space, I will kill anyone who dares hurt you."

The sheer, chilling possessiveness of it made her skin crawl, even as a tiny, traitorous part of her felt a jolt of something she refused to name.

What the hell kind of house was this? What the hell kind of life was this?

She didn't need any kind of distractions.