Aria POV

I opened my eyes slowly. The first thing I noticed upon waking was the light. It was overwhelming, reflecting into my eyes, a blinding white that pressed against my eyelids until I flinched and forced them open.

I looked up at the ceiling above me, which was unfamiliar, smooth, and sterile, painted in soft shades of cream. This wasn’t Kael’s room, nor my own quarters. For a terrifying moment, I feared I hadn’t truly woken up, that I had slipped into some bizarre afterlife, but then I heard the steady beeping. Machines. Hospital machines.

My chest rose sharply as I took a ragged breath that scraped my throat....