Burn Me Once Burn With Me (Ruby Grayson) novel Chapter 80

On the floor, Ruby instinctively reached down to cover her knees, hoping the faint warmth from her palms could somehow seep through and chase away the chill.

But her knees felt rigid and numb, as if a thousand ants were gnawing at her bones.

Her face turned ghostly pale.

She glanced around in confusion. Everyone who met her gaze seemed stunned for a moment before quickly looking away, whispering behind cupped hands.

The lobby was once again filling with newcomers, the noise steadily rising.

"Ms. Grayson... how did she end up like this?" someone murmured, the words quickly lost in the shuffle of urgent footsteps.

Ruby had been haunted by the same nightmare countless times: the prison.

Those days were nothing short of hell on earth.

People always said she'd changed after she got out, but they had no idea. That year behind bars—unjust and sudden—had nearly destroyed her. If not for Mira, she would've never made it out alive.

She gripped her knees tighter as a bone-deep chill climbed up her legs like creeping vines.

The cold crawled from her knees to her chest, wrapping sharp claws around her heart, squeezing until she could barely breathe.

Prison was a nest of demons.

From the moment she'd arrived, she'd become everyone's target. Malice came from every direction. Fetching food, scrubbing laundry, washing dishes—these chores became her daily routine. If she slipped up, they'd shout or lash out, forcing her to kneel on damp, icy floors in the dead of winter as punishment.

In just one year, she fell from grace, from a golden girl to a hollow shell.

For that year, she cycled through hatred, resentment, confusion, and finally, numbness.

Ruby squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to break free from the grip of those memories.

Her legs had been broken once. Now, whenever they caught a chill, pain flared up—sharp and raw, as if snapping all over again.

Two hours of this was nothing short of torture.

Soon, cold sweat soaked through her back.

The chill in her knees crept up her thighs and calves, turning her legs stiff and unresponsive.

Not far away, Gennifer narrowed her eyes, sneering at the pain etched across Ruby's face.

Really? All this over a little kneeling? After surviving a year of prison torment, she can't even handle two hours of this?

Gennifer folded her arms, letting out a derisive snort.

Bennett, standing nearby, looked on with a flicker of sympathy, casting anxious glances toward every exit, searching for Cassian.

"What on earth is Ms. Grayson doing?"

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