CHAPTER 246
KATYA POV
Lila's fingers tightened again. Not just clinging now. Gripping. I felt it a second later. A sharp, burning sting along my calf that cut straight through the fog in my head. I gasped, my body jerking despite myself.
I looked down. Blood. Thin lines of it welled up where her nails had broken the skin, red seeping through the fabric, warm against my leg. It wasn't much but it was enough.
Enough to snap something.
"Child, stop," Nonna's voice cracked through the room. She moved suddenly, the stiffness leaving her body all at once as if a spell had broken.
Her hands shaking as she strained, reaching for Lila's wrists. "Stop gripping her like that," Nonna said sharply, panic bleeding into her words.
"You're hurting her. Let go." Lila made a desperate sound, half-sob, half-gasp, her fingers refusing to obey. Her eyes were wild, unfocused, locked on me like I was the only thing keeping her from falling into something endless.
