AYASHA'S POV
Stone. That's what my legs had become by the time I reached the competitor's wing. Blocks of granite that barely remembered how to bend. Each step sent tremors through bones that had forgotten they were meant to carry me. The door opened before my knuckles touched wood.
Pavati stood in the threshold, bare feet silent against the marble, her dark hair knotted carelessly at the crown of her head. The loose clothes she wore fell past her knees like water. Her gaze swept over me, searching for torn flesh, for blood, for the telltale drag of injury. Whatever she found must have satisfied her because her shoulders dropped half an inch.
"You're back."
