Kade woke slowly, pulled from sleep by the smell of something warm and sweet drifting through the air. For half a moment, disoriented, he tensed as he searched for the feel of a cold forest floor beneath him. He searched for danger at the edge of his senses, unused to falling so deeply asleep. It wasn’t natural for him at all. A warrior couldn’t completely dull his senses in the wild. Even under his father’s roof, Kade never really let his guard down all the way.
Instead, soft blankets covered him. A thick quilt lay heavily across his chest, stitched with tiny patterns of mountain flowers. Light cracked through drawn curtains, spilling over him in a honeyed glow that warmed his face in the cool morning. A fire snapped from somewhere nearby, its warmth reaching him before he fully sat up a
