_Aria’s POV_
That night, I slept badly.
My body rested but my mind did not. I drifted in and out of sleep like a boat caught between two tides. Every time I thought I was sinking into rest, something pulled me back up. My head still ached dully and my chest felt tight as if it was holding too many unspoken thoughts.
The room was quiet.
Machines hummed softly. The curtain stirred when the air shifted. Lucien sat close by. I knew he was there even with my eyes closed. That knowledge should have comforted me. It almost did.
But sleep came anyway. It was slow and heavy.
And when it did, it carried me somewhere else.
________
I was barefoot in a forest.
The ground beneath my feet was cold and damp. Leaves stuck to my skin. The earth smelled sharp and green, like rain and moss. I looke
