Third-person POV
Zephyra sat frozen on the bed, with her knees drawn close to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around them like she could squeeze the fear out of herself, but it didn't work. Her body felt like it was humming, no, trembling, just under the skin, and no matter how many deep breaths she tried to take, none of them helped.
Even though Astraea had said she wasn't going to hurt her, it didn't make the fear go away.
Astraea was a demon.
A freaking demon.
How was she supposed to act normal around that?
She was used to putting up a front, to laughing through bruised lips, to talking big even when her hands were shaking, but this wasn't a drunk guy in an alley or some angry girl in a ring. This was something else. Something unreal. Something that didn't belong in her world, and knowing she'd been able to summon it, made her stomach twist in a way that nothing else ever had.
