Barriers

The Pendant and the Mark"

Lily’s POV

I woke to pain.

Not the sharp kind that makes you scream. No, this was worse—it was the kind that sinks into your bones, that makes every breath ache, every heartbeat throb like a bruise.

My eyes fluttered open. Dim light flickered above—yellow, sickly. I tried to move, but cold metal bit into my wrists and ankles. Chains.

Chains.

My wrists were cuffed above my head, straining my shoulders. My legs, too, were shackled to the chair. I was trapped.

Panic surged, but then—a whisper in my mind.

Scott.

Like a dam bursting, memory slammed into me.

His laugh, warm and infuriating. That smug grin he wore whenever he bested me in class. That one time he pulled my braid just to annoy me, and the next week, I hexed his boots so they squeaked every step. Our rivalry, our truce, our love—all of it.

Scott. My Scott.

And then… the betrayal.

No. Not betrayal. Manipulation.