Alaria:
The scent of antiseptic hit me before the light. My eyes were still closed, but I knew that I was somewhere different. I was not at home. I was not at the cottage.
The smell was sharp. Clean. And even familiar.
My lashes fluttered open, and I blinked up at a ceiling painted in soft gray. Too smooth. Too precise. Not the cottage. Not the forest. Not anywhere I recognized. At least not anywhere that I was familiar with recently. The science, however, was familiar. Though I did not understand how.
I turned my head. The memory of the rogues attacking played in my mind. And my eyes widened as I tried to move but I couldn't.
Pain lanced through my side, sharp and cold. I winced, fingers instinctively going to the bandage at my ribs.
I was in a bed.
White sheets. Fresh linens. Mach
