What Adrian Saw!

Meanwhile, Adrian's vision returned in fuzzy, cartoonish blinks—like the world had been rendered in watercolor and someone was now aggressively sharpening the outlines.

The health potion was finally doing its job, stitching his consciousness back together with the slow grace of a lazy intern.

He still had absolutely no idea what the hell had happened.

One minute he was talking to Alice—probably saying something charming, noble, and slightly stupid.

And the next, he was slipping like a banana peel gag into a puddle of what felt like Satan's leftover bathwater.

Hot. Scalding. Dignity-melting.

And then he just… laid there.

Spread out like laundry in a storm, while the rain poured onto his face like the heavens were personally spitting on him.

And now?

Now he opened his eyes to the sight of Alex.

That smug, stupidly handsome face hovering over him like some low-budget archangel in a drama show.