Liam woke slowly.
For a few seconds he had no idea where he was. His mind was still somewhere between sleep and consciousness, drifting through the strange darkness that always came before his thoughts finally became clear. The first thing he noticed was the coldness of the cave beneath him, followed by the faint glow of crystals scattered across the walls. Their pale light painted the cavern in soft shades of blue and silver, making the place feel strangely peaceful despite everything that had happened there.
Then he noticed Tatiana.
She was sitting beside him, already awake.
From the way she looked, Liam immediately realized she had probably been awake for quite some time. Her long red hair had been brushed back from her face, and she was calmly trimming one of her nails as though they weren't currently inside the lair of a dead witch surrounded by the remnants of a treasure hoard and several unconscious memories of the previous day's chaos.
