Rachael POV
I woke with a dull ache pulsing behind my eyes, not sharp enough to panic me, but persistent enough that I became aware of it before I was fully conscious. It throbbed in time with my heartbeat, a slow reminder that my body had been through something it hadn’t agreed to.
The first thing I noticed wasn’t the ceiling or the faint antiseptic smell, it was the pressure around my fingers.
Someone was holding my hand.
My lashes fluttered open, my vision swimming for a moment before it settled. White walls. Soft lighting. The steady, gentle beeping of a monitor somewhere close, its rhythm oddly comforting. I shifted slightly, testing my body, and that was when I turned my head.
Eryx.
He sat beside the bed, his broad frame folded awkwardly into the chair as if he’d refused to lea
