The Sotíras (The Godfathers of the Night #3)

Prologue

PROLOGUE

ARIA

I hear a voice, faint—it seems miles away.

I try to respond; my tongue feels thick, my words slurred. There’s a distant, detached part of me that’s aware of the danger, aware of how close I came to not coming back from this. It’s a mix of shame, regret, and a desperate longing for this hellish descent to end.

“ Aria !” I hear. Has someone come to rescue me?

Dion . I see him. His face etched with worry. He’s here, and for a moment, I feel a glimmer of hope.

Sotíras . My savior.

Dion , who has been there to rescue me time and again, to pick up the broken pieces of my shattered soul. I cling to that thought like a lifeline.

Every part of me aches with a bone-deep weariness. I just want it to stop.

I drift in and out of awareness. I think about what led me to take all that stuff. It seemed like an easy escape, a way to make all my feelings disappear.

So I could sleep.

My body is rebelling. There’s a burning in my veins, a fiery reminder of my mistake.

My vision blurs, and I can barely make out anything in front of me. The world tilts and spins. I feel Dion’s hand on mine. He’s talking, but the words are lost in the haze.

The darkness behind my eyelids is a small relief from the sensory overload.

I just wanted the pain to stop, but instead, I’ve plunged into a new kind of agony.

All I can do is hold on, hoping that I’ll make it through to the other side.