A cold like never before burrowed deeply into Violet's skin, chilling her to the bone. The steps she took down the empty hallway felt heavy, almost robotically, as if she had been disconnected from her own body.
Nothing made sense anymore. Not when her head swirled with a thousand thoughts, all crashing into each other like waves in a violent storm. It was as if the world had tilted off its axis, and she was left grasping at straws to regain her footing.
Her instincts had always whispered to her to be wary of Asher, and now she knew they had been right all along.
"You, my purple queen, will take Elsie's place." Those words kept echoing in Violet's head, haunting her as she replayed them over and over. They looped through her mind, like a broken record that refused to stop.
It was chilling.
