Chapter 156

Alaria

The first thing I felt was warmth, soft and heavy against my side.

Then the faint scent of something familiar. Smoke and pine. Though I knew deep down that it was not the scent that I wanted to have. Nor was it the one that I wanted to be around.

When my eyes fluttered open, the ceiling wasn’t the same one I remembered from my room. The air here was cleaner, sharper, humming with the quiet rhythm of medical machines. A muted ache pulsed at the back of my skull, and for a few seconds, I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten here.

Then I heard it…

a small voice, broken with worry.

“Mama.”

I turned my head too quickly. Dizziness swept through me, but I blinked until the blur cleared. I did not want her to see me this way.

Anastasia was there, her hair tangled, her small fingers clutching the blanket. And beside her, of all people, stood Darius. He wasn’t holding her roughly. He wasn’t shouting. He carried her carefully, as if she