Mira drifted in the space between waking and sleep, her body beginning the slow work of healing while her mind remained mercifully distant from the memories that would haunt her waking hours.
Ryse kept his vigil, one hand still resting gently on hers, his expression carved from stone and old grief.
The door opened quietly.
He looked up, expecting another healer, and found instead Lady Eris, her face still flushed from whatever had happened in the courtyard, her eyes bright with something between fury and fear.
Emperor Soren followed close behind, his expression unreadable.
Eris crossed the room in three strides and dropped to her knees beside Mira's bed, her hands hovering over the girl's sleeping form as though afraid to touch, afraid to cause more harm.
Ryse stood, bowing briefly. "My lady."
"How is she?" Eris's voice came rough, stripped of its usual composure.
