aint beeping of a machine. My head throbbed, and my ar

hairs by my bed, their faces etched

c said, relief flooding his v

s tone somber. "Alexander went too far. Pre

d in the ocean, they had been the ones to suggest to Alexander that they "find" my body and

I asked, my v

licker of something-pity? disgust?-i

rse he

pathy. I didn't want th

d. "But Azalea, we w

peated, my voice gain

sed glances before reluctantly getting up

m, I heard their real convers

his really hard

," Alaric replied. "But she needs to get over it. The we

aid confidently. "She always do

l twisting in my gut. They weren't my friends.

company. The nurses who came in were polite but distant. They looked at me with

essantly with empty well-wishes from the other b

terested in her phone than in her patient. She spilled water on my bed, brought

e lost her grip, and I fell back hard against the bed fra

here, a prisoner in this sterile room, su

and told her to arrange for m

fresh clothes my assistant had brought, Alar

e! You're not well enou

home," I said coldl

en I s

ful new outfit, looking perfectly healthy and radiant. He was laughing, leaning down to whis

way watched them, thei

in love," some

d another. "He's comp

I heard she's a nightmare. Att

I felt my knees go weak. All the blood I had lost, all the st

e. "Don't listen to them, Azalea. They don't know anythin

ces were full of pity, but their eyes were cold. They were watchi

awn. I was done being th

t know I possessed, I s

I said, my voice

them all-Alaric, Da

oice ringing with a finality that made the

corridor, their mouths hanging open in sh