Caroline’s POV
The confinement didn’t just close in the walls. It warped my thoughts as well. No matter how soft the bed was, every breath I took filled my lungs with that heavy, stale pine scent that carried Rowan Blackthorn’s dominance. I felt like an object placed on a shelf, set aside until someone decided what to do with it.
The strange, pulsing tension in my blood, which I kept blaming on post-accident shock, simply would not leave me alone. Every small sound, every sharper whistle of wind made me flinch, as if my body were waiting for something. Something that wasn’t in the room.
“I’m not going to suffocate in here,” I whispered into the darkness, and defiance finally pushed me out from under the blankets.
I slid off the bed. I was surprised by how steady my legs felt; the earli
