Gabriel's eyes opened to an unfamiliar ceiling.
His head throbbed with each heartbeat, a steady pulse of pain radiating from his temple. The world tilted when he tried to focus, blurred at the edges like he was looking through water.
Voices filtered through the fog. Multiple people, close by.
He turned his head slowly, sending fresh waves of pain through his skull. Faces resolved from the blur: Tess stood near a wall with arms crossed. Adan by a window. Gilbert on a stool, watching him with something that looked like satisfaction. Ennu near the door. Mera beside him, her expression unreadable.
And Melissa.
She sat apart from the others, one hand pressed to her throat. Dark bruises marked her skin—fingerprints pressed into flesh.
His fingerprints.
Four years since the academy, when she'd been the young sister assigned to look after the Paladin students. Before the Order had taken him. Before the exile.
