CHAPTER 15: SHADOWS OF THE BLOODLINES
“Are you alright?”
The voice was soft—like wind brushing over cracked stone.
When Catleya first opened her eyes, the world came back in pieces. The light stung. The air felt heavy. Pain sat in her bones like frost that never thawed. She blinked slowly, unsure if the ache in her limbs was old or new, if the shadows crawling behind her eyes were memory… or something worse.
The woman beside her smiled gently.
Kaya.
A name Catleya did not know, but a face that did not frighten her. Her eyes were warm, lined with worry, and her voice trembled with the kind of care Catleya had long forgotten.
“When we first found you… you were in a terrible state,” Kaya said, sitting beside the bed of woven leaves and cloth. “You were covered in blood—some of it yours
