Chapter 153:Dangerous Deterioration

(Grace's POV) The world around me blurred in and out as another wave of searing pain coursed through my body. My trembling hands gripped the sheets of what felt like the coldest bed I had ever laid on. The cheap motel room reeked of mildew, a far cry from the pristine healing den Scarlett had created. My breathing was shallow, every inhale like knives cutting through my lungs, the poison coursing freely through my veins with no relief in sight. "Mother…" My voice was cracked and dry as sandpaper. It hurt to speak, but desperation propelled my words forward. "You have to help me. Please… I can't... I can't take this anymore." Sarah Winter, my mother—or was she even really my mother?—looked at me with a horrified expression. Her hands fluttered uselessly over my body, unsure where to start or how to soothe the agony I was in. "I—I’ll find her. I’ll make Scarlett listen." Her voice shook, and the usual hardened Luna demeanor she carried had vanished completely. "She won’t listen,"