What is this? Where am I?
I tried to sit up and pain exploded through my side. I cried out, gasping.
"No, no, don't move!"
That voice.
I turned my head, slowly.
He stepped into view. Tall, lean, slightly older. His hair was neater, darker now. But I'd know that voice anywhere.
"Marco?" I croaked.
He rushed to my side, his hand instantly covering mine. "It's me. You're safe now, Seraphina."
I blinked through the blinding pain and tears. "You're… here?"
He smiled softly. "Yeah. I'm here."
My chest trembled. "Am I… alive?"
He let out a shaky breath. "You are. And you're going to be okay."
"But I… I fell. I remember arrows. I remember falling," I whispered, voice cracking.
Marco sat beside me. "You were shot with six arrows. They hit you almost at once. You were standing at the edge of the cliff when it happened."
I flinched. That part I remembered. The faces. The betrayal. The sound of their bows snapping.
"I fell, didn't I?" I asked.
"You did," he said. "But you didn't hit the ground."
"What?"
"You clung to a boulder just beneath the edge. Somehow, even after being shot like that, you didn't let go."
I stared at him. "But I passed out."