Hyacinth’s POV
I woke to a strange heaviness in my body, like I was swimming through a dream I couldn’t escape. My head throbbed faintly as I sat up, blinking against the sunlight streaming through tall windows. It took a moment for my surroundings to register.
This wasn’t the dingy, suffocating carriage where I last saw Vince. This room was vast and opulent, the kind of place I’d only seen in storybooks. The bed was draped in rich velvet, and the polished wood of the furniture gleamed under the golden morning light.
It was too much. Too extravagant.
Panic clawed at my chest as I swung my legs over the side of the bed. My feet met the icy floor, and I gasped at the sudden cold, a sharp reminder that I wasn’t home—or anywhere I recognized. Instinctively, I tried to summon warmth, the fa
