Chapter 4: Drained

I woke in a bed with a white ceiling and a heated blanket tucked under my chin.

My whole body felt hollow.

Someone had put a glass of water on the table by my hand, and I drank it all in one go.

"Slowly," said a woman by the window.

She was small and grey-haired, in a green apron, with a leather bag open on her knees.

"I'm the Keep's healer. You've been out since the gate. Ewan carried you the whole way."

"Where is he?"

"Outside your door. He hasn't sat down yet."

I pushed myself up on my elbows and looked at my hands.

They were shaking.

"What happened to me?"

The healer put her bag aside and pulled her chair close.

"Turn over and let me see your back."

I rolled onto my stomach, and she folded the blanket down to my waist.

Her fingers stopped at the base of my spine.

"There," she said softly. "How long have you had this scar?"

"I don't have a scar."

"You do."

She held up a hand mirror, angled it, and I looked over my shoulder.

At the base of my back, just above the line of my hips, was a pale ring the size of a coin.

A thin silver line ran through it, tied in a loop.

It had not been there at my last bath, and I had not felt anything.

When the healer touched the loop, it glowed.

"That's a knot," she said. "A blood knot. A very old one."

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