Seraphine's POV
Two days had passed.
The stitches still held, the sling was still wrapped around my shoulder, but the dizziness was gone and my knees no longer buckled after ten steps. The healer finally grunted his permission:
“One lap around the corridor. To the courtyard edge. Stairs only if you take them slow. If it hurts, you turn around. I swear, you’re like a child begging to go play in the rain.”
And I acted exactly like someone who had been locked in a room for forty-eight hours.
I went.
The courtyard buzzed with life — the smith’s hammer ringing, two recruits sparring themselves half to death on the training field, guards switching shifts atop the gate. Cassian waved to me from the parapet: tomorrow the bait would be sent to Double Bend. The words slammed inside my chest li
