The healing chamber smelled like burnt herbs and old blood. Stone walls pressed in close, lit by a single lantern that flickered every time the floor shook from another distant Sky Dungeon tremor.
Catherine sat on the edge of a cot, her back straight even though her ribs still ached from the night before. Flora stood two paces away, arms crossed, the fresh bandage on her shoulder already spotting red.
"You look like shit," Flora said.
Catherine didn't smile. "So do you. Sit down."
"I'm fine."
"You're not fine. That thing nearly took your arm off last night." Catherine's voice stayed flat, but her hands tightened on the cot's edge.
"I watched Aiden drag you into that circle. I watched you scream while the fracture spread across your collarbone. And I did nothing."
Flora's eyes narrowed. "You did plenty. You're the one who told me to kneel when he called us forward. You said this was our way out of the old life. You said the harem was power."
