Reya’s POV
I woke with the sun streaming through my window, a sharp, golden light that cut through the last dregs of sleep. I stretched, my muscles complaining with a dull ache. A little shiver ran through me, a ghost of the chills I had felt, but now I was warm, safe, and surprisingly… hungry.
My mind, now that it was no longer fuzzy with fever, immediately turned to Ashriel. I remembered the cup of bitter tea, the cool cloth on my forehead, the way he had sat silently in the chair, watching over me like a hawk. He wasn’t there now. My cabin felt empty without him, and the thought was a strange one. I had spent so much of my time around him feeling tense and on edge, yet his absence left a quiet space in the room.
The memory of the hurried knock on the door came back to me. The low, ur
