Adrein.
While the old healer remained hunched over Anabel, his quiet murmurs drowning in the heavy silence, my gaze drifted away from my sister's pale face and began to sweep slowly across the bedroom.
The chaotic state of the room became glaringly obvious. Two heavy leather traveling trunks rested wide open on the soft mattress, their interiors stuffed haphazardly with silk dresses, heavy winter cloaks, and velvet jewelry pouches that had clearly been thrown inside in a frantic hurry.
It wasn't the neat, meticulous packing of someone preparing for a scheduled journey; it looked like the desperate scramble of someone trying to flee in the dead of night.
A cold prickle of suspicion worked its way up my spine. My jaw tightened as I slowly shifted my eyes from the bed to the corner of the room, where Valerie stood trembling against the stone wall, her eyes darting nervously between us and her unconscious mistress.
