~LENORA'S POV
I rinsed my mouth and leaned over the basin again when the nausea returned, forcing everything out of me until there was nothing left but the burn in my throat and the dull ache in my stomach.
My fingers gripped the edge of the cracked sink while I waited for it to pass, breathing slowly through it, trying not to make too much noise in case someone else woke up and came looking.
When it finally eased, I straightened and reached for the small bucket of water beside the wall, splashing some over my face before lifting my head toward the mirror.
The reflection staring back at me didn't look like someone who had simply woken up too early.
My skin had lost what little color it used to hold, and my eyes looked tired in a way sleep hadn't been fixing.
This wasn't new. It had been like this for days now, always the same pattern, always worse in the mornings.
