I woke with a jolt, gasping. The sheets were tangled around me, and my skin felt on fire.
Not like the heat of the sun, or the way the room had been warm. No, this felt like a force, like something inside me was pushing, trying to break through my skin. My chest burned. My veins felt like they were filled with molten lava.
I tried to sit up, but my body wouldn’t cooperate. Every part of me felt alive, thrumming, aching with a need I couldn’t understand.
Ryvarn’s voice cut through the fog in my mind. “Nyssa? You just slept off a while ago.”
I looked over, blinking through the haze of pain. He was standing in the doorway, concern etched on his face.
I reached out, grabbing the edge of the bed to steady myself. “I—I can’t… It’s too much.”
He was across the room in seconds, kneeling besi
