The scent of herbs and disinfectant woke her.
A ceiling spun above her.
She was lying in a cot. Her ribs burned. Her left eye throbbed with swelling. And her entire body felt like someone had folded it wrong and left it in a drawer.
She looked and saw the blue-eyed boy standing there.
Panicked, she moved to sit—then groaned and laid back.
Her whole body throbbed with pain and she cried out.
A sharp voice said “Don’t.”
Nurse Ebbely stood nearby, shaking a vial.
“You’re lucky one of your classmates passing the garden saw the boys dragging your bleeding body in the dirt. Do you know how stupid and lazy you are?”
Elowyn wanted to say something clever. Maybe something rude. But her throat tasted like copper and her chest refused words.
She only glanced at Riven, nervously.
The nurse
