Sarafina's POV
I woke to silence.
Not the comfortable kind.
The kind that felt… intentional.Held.
Like the room itself was waiting for me to breathe.
I pushed myself upright slowly, my palms sinking into a blanket that wasn't mine. The bed was softer. The air colder. The light dim, not artificial light, but something gentler, like it was coming through stone instead of a window.
My chest tightened.
This wasn't my apartment.
Panic scraped the inside of my throat.
Memories came in flashes:
Cassian shouting my name
Hunters storming in
Alistair tearing through them, the two of them carrying me together, my head against someone's chest
the world flickering, cracking, shaking—
And then nothing.
I lifted a trembling hand.
My fingers were dusted with faint silver, like the leftover sparks of whatever exploded out of me.
"What happened to me…?"
My voice sounded small, even to my own ears.
Footsteps approached outside the door.
Slow.
Measured.
