Lucielle found herself lingering between wakefulness and the abyss of unconsciousness, conscious enough to register the throbbing pain permeating through her body before the darkness engulfed her once more. The faint rhythmic beeping of medical machinery infiltrated her senses as she grimaced in discomfort, her eyes tentatively peeling open.
Her surroundings were a blurred mess, an insistent pounding in her temple causing her eye to twitch involuntarily as she grappled to focus her vision. Lucielle attempted to raise herself into a seated position, but a sharp stabbing pain in her side halted her motions, and she found herself unable to muster the strength to even lift her wrist for support.
"Easy there, beautiful, rest is what you need," a soothing Irish voice murmured into her ear, the
