Eloise’ POV
There it was again… the faint scent of medication lingering in the air, hard to take on nostrils yet oddly familiar. It crept into my awareness, accompanied by the muffled hum of voices exchanging words I couldn’t quite make out. The blurred outlines of their conversation blended with the haze of my thoughts.
For the second time, I realized I was waking up in a place where physicians had tended to me. A place of recovery—or perhaps survival.
The brightness above me was overwhelming, even though my eyes remained stubbornly closed. I could feel the light pressing against my eyelids, a glow that entered the cloud of my half-conscious state.
The wind drifted in through an open window, brushing gently against my skin. It carried with it the subtle scent of damp earth and distan
