Elise´s POV
The morning cold seeped into my skin like invisible needles. I blinked, dazed, my body heavy, trapped in a strange lethargy. I tried to move my fingers, but it was as if my blood flowed too slowly, as if something was holding me inside my own body.
Freidis was there, somewhere in the back of my mind. Distant. Silent.
I forced a deep breath and sat up with effort. Sweat clung to my shirt, despite the freezing air inside the tent. It wasn’t just fatigue. It was something else.
Pushing myself off the cot, I ignored the numbness spreading through my limbs. Outside, the camp was already alive with movement—warriors training, sharpening their blades, preparing for a war that never gave us a moment's rest.
I had to do the same.
You can’t show weakness.
My muscles protested with
