Opening her eyes after drowning in darkness was a challenge.
When the light penetrated the uninterrupted state of her dreams, effectively blinding her, Sophie realized how much she appreciated not being confronted by anything but black—it was a pleasant color, it expected no work from Sophie's eyes at all.
"Lady Sophie! Lady Sophie!"
Next to light, noise was surely the second worst thing to have ever happened to Sophie.
A voice much too high pitched to be acceptable rang painfully against her ear drums.
Whoever it was that was yelling needed to be executed immediately, not that she held that kind of power, but she was going to do it herself if it continued to be so irritating.
Darkness, quiet, peace, where were they when she needed them the most?
Slipping back into a state of slumber was tempting, especially once the pain on her side made itself known.
Sophie tried to scream, the ache blanketing her body from head to toe was overwhelming, but what came out instead was a hoarse whimper. Everything hurt. She was starting to think death was the kinder fate.
"Lady Sophie, I advise you not to struggle so much. Your body needs to rest to heal properly." The second voice to invade Sophie's senses was much gentler, professional almost.
An old man stood beside where she was lying still.
The duke's family physician. She remembered him from his long, gray beard and kind hazel eyes.
She tried to ask the old man about the state of her injuries—it felt like she had been run over by a carriage carrying two fully grown whales—but no coherent words left her mouth, only pathetic noises.
"Oh, my dearest Sophie. What did those forest creatures do to you?" Her friend, Lady Adeline, as Sophie came to recognize, was standing next to the physician, tears streaming down her smooth and pale face.
Sophie had no recollection of any forest creatures attacking her. As a matter of fact, she had barely encountered any if her memory served her well. Her thoughts were slow to catch up with the current events, but she remembered being tugged on by a savage hawk and being accompanied by a strange reptilian creature… The beast!
Her body moved on its own before she could stop it, back straight as she sat up in a rush.
Adeline looked terrified. Another pair of familiar hands attempted to pin her down the bed. Sophie struggled against them, stubborn about keeping the position she was already in. Only then did she realize Lady Maude was the one she was struggling against, looking more exhausted than she usually did.
"Sophie, dearest! Please. Do not do whatever you are about to do!" Adeline cried out and Sophie was a few impulses away from pinching her mouth shut herself.
But her body restricted her from making any further movements and sitting up already put her in a world of pain.
"..A.. de..… Ady.. I n..eed to ta.. talk to… you."
The blonde came across as uncertain, eyes observing the way the servants in the room and the old physician sported the same expression of indecision.
"Alone." She was able to clarify despite her aching throat.
"If you agree to lay back down Lady Sophie, Lady Adeline and I will agree to speaking to you alone." Lady Maude negotiated, a glint of concern present in her cool demeanor. If Sophie had the mental fortitude to look even further, she'd notice how broken Maude's gaze looked, the sheer amount of hopelessness and conflicting emotions swirling around in those lonely browns.
Sophie could only nod slowly, careful not to make herself dizzy. If the world around her began spinning, she might actually just throw up on her friends.
She watched as everyone else except Adeline and Maude stepped out of the room, allowing for a relieving moment of silence to pass them. Adeline took a seat next to Sophie's recovering figure, the cushions dipping to accommodate her weight.
Maude and Adeline shared a look as they waited for their friend to start speaking once more.
"How did.. How did they find me?" Sophie asked, mostly curious about how she managed to survive after running off to the woods on her own.
"You were in the outskirts of the woods when my husband's group of guards and lords found you. You were barely conscious, barely breathing, there were so many bruises on your body, Sophie. We thought we had lost you to the beast, but my husband said there'd be no body if that were the case. I was nearly about to faint." Adeline was back to crying again. This time, Sophie truly felt bad, learning of the harrowing effects of her careless decision.
She wasn't expecting to create this much trouble.
"I am… sorry."
"Sorry will not do, Lady Sophie! Why were you even there?" Adeline exclaimed, Maude made a face as if to tell her to lower her volume, and Sophie was extremely grateful for it.
"I… I wanted to find my husband. He wasn't home, I was worried sick."
Adeline's brows raised in shock, her mouth shifting into a frown. "Your husband?"
Frozen and unable to explain exactly what she was feeling, Sophie could only muster a weak, "Yes, my husband."
The tension in the room was as dense as stone and it was starting to gnaw at Sophie's guts.
Maybe she was just hungry after sleeping for so long. Regardless, it was unpleasant watching her friend, the usually optimistic Lady Adeline, sport a face of displeasure and confusion.
"Sophie, my dear, your husband wasn't with the other lords last night. We thought he was accompanying you, so my husband didn't bother him any longer. The Duke said so himself, that he was going to watch over the missus."
"What?" Sophie's voice broke through the hoarseness, uncaring if it hurt twice as much to be using her full effort on speaking. "I waited for him all night. He did not return to me."
Adeline was nervous as well, if the frown on her face said anything. "Maybe he ran into some trouble on the way home. I sure do hope not. The last time I saw him was yesterday."
Sophie did not want to cry in front of her friends, but her sorrow threatened to break to the surface. What if that was really the case? What if she had lost her husband and it was already too late?
"Lady Adeline, you should not scare Sophie when she is in a weak state. I am sure the Duke was just summoned elsewhere before he could arrive home. Everybody knows he is kept busy by his duties."
Sophie tried to let Maude's words comfort her, but they weren't all that effective. If Sophie's husband were summoned so late at night, she'd know. Her servants would have informed her.
But Sophie did run into the woods before anyone could reason with her. It was likely that she missed the messenger.
It was driving her delirious, the sheer mental battle she was having with herself, trying to decide what she believed in the most. The events of last night were almost non-existent next to the concern she had for her husband's well-being.
"Lady Sophie, calm down. Your husband is alive and well. He has probably heard of your current state and is heading here right now as we speak." Maude pressed more firmly. She had always been the rational anchor between the three. If Sophie was the mediator and Adeline the charmer, Maude was the one who set everyone straight.
The Duchess was extremely grateful for her presence beside her resting bed.
But then she realized something. "If he is alive and well like you claim, why isn't he here now? Why am I waking up to you two and not my husband?"
"He was probably occupied by his duties. It must be hard being such an important figurehead." Adeline answered but the excuse was starting to agitate her. He always was, these days, too busy for his own wife. It was unpleasant remembering the arguments that occurred between her and her husband long before she ran into the woods.
Sophie could only sigh into her hands. When were things going to return to normal? Their marriage had been perfect excluding the last couple of months. She still had no idea what had gone wrong.
"Who was it that summoned the family physician in the first place?"
"My husband did. Our doctor is familiar with yours." Adeline, once again, answered.
Sophie could say nothing else, feeling dejected. If she could become a lifeless sack of potatoes, she would, willingly.
Her silence seemed to encourage questions, however, because moments later, Lady Maude picked up the conversation and asked, "If it's not too heavy of a topic, what happened last night? Do you recall being attacked, Lady Sophie?"
Sophie couldn't decide. Should she tell them the truth? Were they even going to believe her?