Fiona’s POV
Cold. That was the first thing I noticed.
Not the kind that bites at your skin before fading. Not a passing shiver. This was worse. It lived inside me, seeped into my bones, and settled deep in my chest. A cold that felt like it belonged to me now, like it had fused itself into my body, a permanent thing.
But the surface beneath me was warm.
Not the damp, rotting forest floor. Not the icy ground where I had last collapsed.
Something else.
Soft. Almost too soft.
My mind stirred. My eyelids, too heavy, refused to cooperate. I forced them open anyway.
Light flickered across wooden walls. Shadows stretched and shrank as flames crackled in a distant hearth. A chair sat tucked into the corner. A table cluttered with jars, bottles, things I didn’t recognize. The air smelled sh
