It wasn't until Ashlynn woke, comfortably in bed with late afternoon sunlight filtering through her curtains, that she realized she truly had fallen asleep in Thane's arms on their way back to the vale.
Only now, when she was surrounded by the familiar curtains she'd selected from the market in the castle bazaar, listening to the crackle of the fire in the hearth and smelling the faint lavender of the soap used to wash her bedding, did she realize how exhausted she truly felt.
It wasn't just the toll of taking lives that had weighed on her. She'd used her magic to her limits, stressing her body more than she ever had before. She'd spent two days in the Summer Villa, fearing that she'd be exposed at any moment followed by a third day fleeing for her life with a helpless Ollie in tow.
And all of this had come on top of two weeks of intense training and preparation before she even entered the villa.
