Page 124 of Crowned In Venom

Her weight presses harder.

"I want him to feel it."

Her silver eyes burn with something twisted.

"This lesson must be hard. And painful."

"Because you… seem to matter."

The words drip with disgust.

As if it is a sickness she must cut out.

Her expression darkens.

"And I will carve you out of him."

I snarl, twisting beneath her.

"You will regret this."

"You will regret everything."

Her lips curl.

"Oh?"

She lifts her boot, turning to the guards.

"Take her to the dungeons."

They grab me.

I fight.

But they drag me away.

And for the first time since this began?—

I lose hope.

38

VARKOS

Darkness.

It coils around me, thick and endless, swallowing everything.

I can’t breathe.

I can’t move.

My limbs are heavy, dragging me down, deeper and deeper into the abyss.

I try to fight it—I always fight—but the more I struggle, the more the weight pulls at me, like unseen hands grasping my wrists, my ankles, wrapping around my throat.

I am sinking.

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