The following morning, Ulrich woke slowly.
His crimson eyes opened to pale daylight filtering through the curtains.
For several moments, he remained still.
His body felt heavy.
Not weak in the same way as before, but sore from head to toe, as though he had slept for an entire day and somehow woken more tired because of it. The physicians' medicine still lingered in his system, leaving a faint numbness in his limbs and a dull pressure behind his eyes.
Pain remained.
His ribs hurt when he breathed too deeply. His chest ached beneath the bandages. The wound where his left arm had been sent a constant, distant pulse through his body but that was not what caught his attention.
His thoughts began to clear.
And with them came the memories of the previous night.
Airam lying beside him.
Airam staring at him with those calm, dark eyes.
Airam refusing to leave.
Then the faint threads of mana around her fingers.
Ulrich's expression darkened.
She had used a sleep spell on him.
