Lucian's POV...
I can't breathe.
The air feels thick, resistant, as if I am trying to draw it through a fine layer of silt. My lungs are stone weights in my chest, unable to expand fully. The pain is not sharp or stabbing, but a deep, relentless pressure, as if my own skeleton is inching inward, compressing me. Each inhale is a shallow, insufficient sip. I am not gasping for dramatic effect; I am, quite simply, drowning in the quiet of my own study.
I don't want to scream.
