Chapter 17
The immediate relief at hearing the familiar voice felt like a rope being tightened around her lungs had let go and she could breathe again. She opened her eyes and her vision came back into focus to reveal Aaron’s kind face right in front of hers. It had been three days since she’d left him on the train, but already his eyes seemed brighter, less sunken, and his cheeks had lost their familiar pallor. He wore a white coat that matched the rest of the room, all a blinding, clean white. Lareina looked down at her hands, arms, and clothes all caked with mud. No wonder such hesitance gripped his voice. How could he possibly recognize her?
“Aaron, it’s me,” she whispered through chattering teeth.
For a moment she forgot about her aching arm, and tried to sit up, but the pain surge
