Elira's POV

A faint hum pressed against my ears— machines maybe. I turned, my hand dropping to the metal that bound the bed and that moment, my brain went alive.

My pulse hammered in my throat. Every sound was too loud — the beeping, the pulse pounding in my ears and… the murmurs in the room.

Murmurs. I had company.

In an instant, my eyes snapped open as I sat up with so much force I didn't know was there. A dull ache pounded behind my eyes and I blinked, in a bid to clear my vision and to stop the ache in my eyes.

The murmurs came again and...