Chapter 71

• Alessia’s POV
• The headache crept in sometime after midnight. It wasn’t the kind that came from lack of sleep or dehydration, it was the kind that built behind your eyes when too many thoughts fought for space at once. My mind wouldn’t shut up. Days came fast, questions folding into more questions. My father’s face lingered at the edge of my memory.
• I rolled over for the fifth time, my pillow growing warm beneath my cheek. I tossed the covers off for the third time and sat up in bed, the dim light from the courtyard bleeding through the sheer curtains. Enough! I needed water. Something cold. Something to ground me. I swung my legs over the side of the bed, the cold floor sending a shiver up my spine.