Pain drags me back before consciousness fully does.
It starts in my chest, sharp each time I breathe, then spreads slowly through the rest of my body until even my fingers feel heavy. Somewhere nearby metal clinks softly against metal. Water simmers. Footsteps move carefully across wooden floorboards.
The forge.
I recognize it before I even open my eyes.
When I finally manage to, warm candlelight blurs above me. My vision swims for several long seconds before the room settles into focus.
Roseth sits beside the bed with her sleeves rolled to the elbows, grinding herbs inside a small stone bowl. Exhaustion shadows her face. One loose curl keeps slipping across her cheek each time she moves, yet she seems too tired to notice.
She looks up the moment I shift.
Relief flashes across her expression so openly it tightens something painfully deep inside my chest.
“You are awake.” Her voice comes out rough with fatigue. I try pushing myself upright but it is a terrible decision.
Pain tears through my ribs hard enough that I hiss through my teeth before collapsing back against the pillow.
Roseth is beside me immediately. “Absolutely not.”
“I am fine.” I revolt.
“You collapsed unconscious in the center of Bellmere after bleeding from places people should not bleed from.” She presses one hand flat against my chest before I can attempt moving again. “You are not fine.”
Despite everything, a weak laugh escapes me. The sound loosen something in her shoulders.
“Good,” she murmurs quietly. “You are still annoying. That means your mind survived.”
I look toward the forge windows. Morning light filters through them now.
“How long?” I ask.
She takes a deep breath before replying, “Most of the night.”
“You stayed here?”
Her expression shifts into something almost offended. “Of course I stayed.”
The answer arrives so quickly, so naturally, that I forget how to breathe for half a heartbeat.
She turns away before I can respond, reaching for a nearby cup instead. “Drink.”
I obey mostly because arguing with her while injured appears impossible.
The water tastes faintly bitter from herbs. My hands shake badly enough that some spills over my fingers. Roseth notices instantly.
Her eyes narrow. “Your resonance is still unstable.”
“I overextended it.”
“You nearly killed yourself.” she utters with a certain tone.
The words land harder than expected.
Silence stretches briefly between us before she exhales sharply and sits back down beside the bed.
Outside, Bellmere groans with recovery. Hammering echoes faintly through the streets. Voices carry from somewhere near the market square. The town survives. Damaged, shaken, but alive.
