//CLARA//
"Little bird. Wake up."
The words filtered through the fog of sleep. I felt something tapping gently against my cheek.
I blinked. Casimir's face hovered inches from mine, and he looked like he hadn't slept at all.
"We're here."
I sat up slowly, my neck aching. Outside the window, trees clawed at a sky the color of old pewter. A long, winding drive disappeared into a dense thicket of pines.
"How long?"
"Almost a full day. The roads were worse than I anticipated."
A full day. A full day of carriage wheels grinding over frozen roads, of Hattie's soft breathing from the opposite seat, of Gary's occasional snores from somewhere behind us, of brief stops at posting houses to change horses while we stretched our cramped legs and avoided each other's eyes.
I should have been terrified. Instead, I had slept through most of it like the dead.
"We need to move," Casimir said, reaching for the door handle. "The sooner we're inside, the sooner we can assess our situation."
