Valtira.
The morning sunlight seeped through the tall arched windows, slipping past the heavy drapes in thin, blinding strands that burned against my eyelids. I groaned softly as I opened my eyes, my head throbbing, my body stiff and aching as though I had been bruised from the inside out.
The pain from the night before had not left me.
If anything, it had settled deeper, curling itself into my bones like a lingering sickness. The sharp, searing agony I had felt yesterday returned all at once, crashing down on me the moment I became aware, as if it had merely been waiting for me to wake.
I pressed a hand to my stomach, breathing slowly, carefully. Every inhale felt heavy, deliberate, as though my body resisted even that small mercy.
I was sure Draven had been beside me when I fell as
