Lyra's POV
Sound returned to me first, followed by the tingling sensation creeping back into my fingertips and toes. Something wet and warm trickled down my inner thigh in a steady rhythm. The same sticky trail ran down my throat and pooled between my breasts. Metal clinked somewhere above me, accompanied by muffled laughter and whispered conversations.
Then the agony hit me like a freight train.
My skull felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. Both arms had gone completely numb from whatever position they were twisted into behind my back, yet somehow they still throbbed with a deep, persistent ache. My legs dangled uselessly, as if I were suspended in mid-air. But the worst pain came from my neck. It burned like someone had driven a rusty knife straight through my carotid artery and twisted it.
A low groan escaped my lips as I forced my eyelids open.
