Lies he told

When Penny woke up, it was already near dusk. Peeking to her side, her lips curled up. There, sleeping next to her, was none other than the only person she wished to wake up to and fall asleep with. Zoren.

She rolled onto her side instinctively, almost jolting when a sharp pain shot through her thigh.

"Ouch…" she winced. "I forgot I stabbed myself."

A shallow breath slipped past her lips as she looked up at Zoren. The pain in her thigh slowly faded while she stared at her husband, smiling in relief. They hadn't said it earlier, but she was glad that neither of them was hurt too badly. Just thinking about everything they had gone through the night before—it almost felt like a dream.

A very long and exhausting dream.

"Look at us," she whispered, poking Zoren's lean cheek gently. "We're both hurt, but at the same time, we're fine."