TESSA
I woke to pain.
Not the kind of dull ache that comes from overexertion or bruises after training, but a deep, suffocating pressure that seemed to live inside me. My chest burned. My body trembled as though I had been torn apart and stitched together again.
Alive.
I was alive.
The realization struck like lightning, blinding and terrifying all at once. Then, I looked around, looking for Ellana.
“Ellana!” I exclaimed.
I tried to sit up, every muscle screaming in protest.
The room around me was small and oddly rustic compared to the polished pack infirmaries I was used to. The walls were pale wood, shelves stacked with unfamiliar herbs, instruments too modern to belong to some rural clinic yet too old to belong in the city. A draft blew through the half-open window, carrying th
