Aliyah’s POV
My head throbbed before I even opened my eyes. A deep, dragging ache pulsed behind my temples, spreading down my neck like poison. My body felt heavy, like I had been dropped into a pool of wet sand. When I tried to move, something tugged hard at my wrists. Rope. Tight, coarse rope that burned against my skin. My ankles were bound too, pressed against the soft mattress beneath me.
Panic shot through me like lightning.
Where was I?
The air was cold and heavy with the sharp sting of alcohol and smoke. A dim lamp flickered somewhere near the corner of the room, its glow cutting through the shadows just enough for me to see the silk sheets beneath me. Everything smelled wrong. Expensive cologne, stale wine, sweat, and the faint rust of metal. A place that didn’t belong to me,
