Liona's POV
Pain woke me before anything else did.
A deep specific ache in my ribs that pulsed with every breath, reminding me with great patience and consistency that I had done something my body had not appreciated, and was going to keep bringing it up. I opened my eyes slowly.
Same ceiling. Same room. The fire in the hearth had burned lower than it had been when he left, which meant time had passed, though how much I could not tell from here.
Something warm and damp was moving across the bottom of my foot.
I sat up fast. The ribs protested immediately. I ignored them and looked down.
A woman was kneeling at the foot of the bed, a damp cloth in her hands, cleaning my feet with the focused careful attention of someone who had been doing this for a while, and had not expected to be caught at it. She looked up when I pulled my foot back. Her eyes were wide.
"What are you doing?" I said.
