Something made Alyssa startle awake and she nearly toppled from a comfortable, soft bed that was not hers. Confused and confounded, she struggled to keep her bleary eyes open, and it took a moment for her to recognize the distinctive stonework and high arched windows of Castle El’vaera, the ancient stronghold of her forefathers.
Weakness overwhelmed her as she sat up in bed and nearly heaved. What was wrong with her, and how did she get here? The last thing she remembered… flashes of her wedding ceremony stabbed through her brain.
Her throat was so dry she had trouble swallowing, but the ornate bedstand attached to the canopied bed with its gauzy white, tied-back curtains might as well be on another planet.
She slowly lay back against the downy pillows and took deep, steadying breaths
