The cold dungeon walls echoed with the clinking of chains and the sharp breath of a restrained woman. Helen's grip on Nadia's wrists was ironclad, preventing any escape.
Across from her stood Regina — no longer just a woman but a figure draped in ominous power, a dark crown floating above her head like a sinister halo. Her eyes burned with a storm of grief, fury, and something far more dangerous: obsession.
"I mourned a child I never got to raise," Regina's voice broke the silence, trembling with raw emotion. "Do you know what it's like, Nadia? To hold something lifeless in your arms and beg the heavens to give it back?"
Nadia's brow furrowed. She swallowed the lump in her throat, confused. "But Noah's alive, isn't he? Didn't they say he was switched at birth with a dead one? But now… he's back?"
