Reya’s POV
The morning after our little spat, the air in the infirmary was thick with a new kind of silence. Liana didn’t greet me, didn’t even look in my direction. The other nurses were quiet, a hushed energy filling the space that was usually so calm. It was the kind of quiet that meant everyone had heard and was now waiting for the other shoe to drop.
It dropped a few days later, but it wasn’t a loud crash. It was a whisper.
I was tending to an elderly patient, Mrs. Maeve, who had been struggling with a persistent cough. I had given her a mix of dried hyssop and marshmallow root to soothe her throat and help with the congestion. She had been showing steady improvement.
“Dr. Aurelia,” she said, her voice still a little raspy but much clearer than before. “That last dose… I don’t thi
