---- for hours, its faint glow flickering like a dying heartbeat.

Time dragged, each second stretching into an eternity, Hunger clawed at her stomach, but she told herself it wouldn't last.

They would remember her.

Someone would come.

They cant just throw a prisoner here and forget about her.

By the second day, the hunger she felt had become unbearable, a gnawing, relentless pain twisted her insides.

She called out, her voice echoing off the stone walls, desperate and raw.

Her palms hitting the stone mud walls.

Hello? Is anyone there? Silence answered her.

Please! The third day brought thirst.

[er throat felt like ---- Chapter 483 sandpaper, every swallow a new torment.

She screamed until her voice cracked, the sound bouncing back to mock her.

Her chains rattled as she struggled against them, but they held firm.

By the fourth day, she was too weak to scream or even move Her head lolled forward, her hair plastered to her filthy face.

The stench of her own waste filled the cell, a vile, inescapable reminder of her helplessness.

She was tied there with the chains....

What could she do.

She couldn't even escape her own shit.

The cold stone beneath her offered no respite, its chill sinking deeper into her frail body.

All this while only one thing had her open her hazel eyes every time Damien.

She clung to the memory of his voice, his touch anything to drown out the crushing reality.

She saw him ---- Countless times Standing there, looking at her.noveldrama

But when she tried to touch him? His figure vanished in thin air.

Those were all hallucinations.

She assured herself.

That he would come here any second and rip these chains.

He will come and tell everyone that she was with him.

And not some enemy of his.

That she didnt hurt him.

But until then, she has to hold on.

She has to breathe.

Please, she whispered to the shadows.

Someone! Can you hear me! Please! But the shadows offered no mercy.

By the seventh day, she was barely conscious.

Hunger, thirst, and despair had stripped her of ---- strength, leaving her a hollow shell.

Her eyes stay fixated on the light...which has long flickered of, leaving her to darkness: When finally she heard the sound of boots: descending the stone steps.

It echoed.

Tt wasnt her imagination Someone was really here.

It took her a moment to register it as real but as soon as she does? Her head jerked up, her vision swimming as the figure approached.

Scout? Her voice came out little more than a rasp, her lips cracked and bleeding And Scout stopped in front of her, his expression hard to read.

He carried a small bundlea loaf of bread and a flask of water.

His gaze flicked over her, lingering on her hollow cheeks, her bruised wrists, and the filth covering her skin.