Chapter 122. Trusting a Stranger

Aurora’s POV

I wake up with a sharp gasp, my body jolting upright as the sting in my arm hits me like a freight train. My eyes snap open, but the world around me is spinning, and I can barely make sense of it. My heart races in my chest, and the first thing I notice is the restraint on my arm—my own doing. The ropes are tight around my wrist, tying me to the bed. It worked. I wasn’t sleepwalking. But how the hell did I end up on the floor?

I groan, shifting my weight, feeling the intense ache in my arms from sleeping at such a strange angle. Every muscle screams in protest as I push myself up, the roughness of the floor against my skin grounding me back into reality. I glance around the room, the faint light from the early morning creeping in through the window. Nothing looks out of place, but something feels... off.

I shake my head, trying to clear the fog of the dream that still lingers in the back of my mind. I close my eyes for a second, and then it floo