AYASHA'S POV
Dawn crept through the high windows of the medical wing, each ray of light cutting through the stale air like a blade. The antiseptic smell couldn't mask the underlying scent of fear that had settled into these walls over the past hours. I shifted in the wooden chair, my spine protesting after a night spent curved over Koda's still form. My fingers remained laced through his, the calluses on his palm rough against my skin.
The bond between us pulsed with each of his breaths,steady now. No longer the erratic flutter it had been when they'd first brought him here. Guards had abandoned their posts sometime after midnight. Even the servants had melted away, leaving us in this suspended quiet where the only sounds were Koda's breathing and the distant drip of water from faulty architcture.
