SELENE’S POV Darkness pressed around me, thick and heavy. Voices drifted in and out, low and urgent, but I couldn’t make out the words. My body felt heavy, limbs weighed down as if stones rested on every joint. I tried to open my eyes, but the light stung, too bright, too sharp. I squeezed them shut again, groaning softly as a splitting headache bloomed behind my temples.Slowly the voices grew clearer. One sounded like Darius, rough with exhaustion. Another belonged to a healer, calm and steady. I focused on breathing, forcing my eyes to adjust to the soft lamplight filling the room. This wasn’t the northern safe house. No cold stone walls. No heavy chains. Instead familiar wooden beams stretched overhead, and the scent of home wrapped around me — cedar, clean linen, and Darius’s warm musk.I turned my head carefully. Darius sat slumped in a chair beside the bed, head resting on his folded arms, eyes closed in exhausted sleep. His face looked drawn, dark circles under his eyes, fres
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