Aurora blinked slowly, her eyes adjusting to the harsh, white light above her.
Everything felt blurry and strange.
Her throat was dry, her body felt weak, and when she tried to move, it was like her limbs were too heavy to lift.
She blinked again, trying to make sense of where she was.
Then it hit her.
She was in a hospital.
The beeping machines beside her bed, the IV in her arm, the sterile smell—it was all familiar in a distant, hazy way.
But why?
What happened?
The last thing she remembered was... her wedding day.
She had waited for Daemon.
She had stood there in her white dress, feeling so hopeful, so sure he would come.
But he didn't.
He never showed up.
She had ended up marrying for both of them, alone at the altar, and then sleeping in their bed by herself that night.
That's all she could recall, but now... now she was here.