{IRIS}
The silence that followed Sebastian's departure was not silence at all.
It was alive.
It pulsed.
It crawled.
It breathed against my skin like something with teeth.
I grasped the iron bars, fully expecting them to rattle beneath my strength—but they did not yield. Not even an inch.
The metal was cold as grave-soil, heavy with age, forged to restrain beings far stronger than me.
A sickening truth coiled in my gut.
If I still had my wolf—if that part of me weren't sealed beneath layers of shackles and secrets—I might have torn these bars apart.
But as I was now?
I was strong enough only to understand how powerless I had become.
A low growl rippled from the deeper shadows.
My breath stilled. I turned slowly, letting my eyes adjust to the consuming darkness that clung to the walls like a second skin.
And then… I saw them.
Eyes.
Dozens of them.
