5

The heavy, humid air of the late afternoon hung over the haveli like a physical weight. For Sofi, the last two months had been a slow, agonizing descent into a world where her own will was a disappearing shadow. The "tea" she was forced to drink every night had changed her; it had made her world soft, blurry, and terrifyingly sensitive. Her skin felt like it was humming, a constant, low-frequency vibration that turned the touch of her own clothes into a distracting friction.

Today, for the first time, Malini had handed her the silver tray.