NYX's POV
The floor didn't feel like cold stone. It felt like a bed of clouds. I collapsed, my lungs burning with every jagged breath, and for a blissful moment, I wanted to let the shadows swallow me whole. If I stayed here forever, the pain might actually stop.
We had been at it for over six hours. I used to think Kael was a hard-ass, but training with Frost made his sessions feel like a stroll. She wasn't just a mentor; she was a force of nature, and right now, that nature was trying to ground me into dust.
My limbs felt like leaden weights, yet my bones hummed with a hollow, brittle ache—as if I were made of glass ready to shatter. My muscles weren't just tired, they were screaming, a chorus of agony that drowned out everything else.
'Again!' Frost's command voice filled my head. Her command hooked into my spine, forcing me to quiver.
"I... I'm done," I croaked, my throat feeling like I'd swallowed sandpaper. "If I go again, my legs are going to snap like dry kindling."
