Chapter 49: Elaine Wants to Feed Me?

When I woke up groggy once more, the chamber’s familiar haze wrapped around me like a stifling shroud—afternoon light now faded to a soft, bruised amber slanting through the heavy indigo drapes embroidered with silver griffins, their wings catching faint glimmers like forgotten stars.

The air hung thick with layered scents: sharp tang of cooling healing salves—willow bark bitter as regret, mint cutting clean through fever-sweat—and the distant, muffled clamour of palace life seeping through the thick oak door.

I took a deep breath, recalling Elaine’s weird behaviour.

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