Time, which had congealed into amber, began to flow again. She drew a shuddering breath. Her fingers, which had been reaching for the doorframe, now dropped to her side. She had been trying to leave. That was the sin. That was why he had spoken the word.

She was already gone.

The command hung in the sterile air of the loft, a single word that acted less like a request and more like a law of physics. Amirah Adara became a statue of flesh and breath, her lungs paused mid-cycle, her eyes fixed on the rain-streaked window overlooking a city that had forgotten her.

The door was still there. Unlocked. Unguarded.