Her eyes slid open ever so slowly. She didn't want to stop dreaming.
But the moment her eyes opened and she recalled everything that had happened, sleep vanished from her eyes.
"Ah, there she is. The ever sleeping beauty." A pretty woman with a plump face and silvering hair said in the sweetest voice she had ever heard.
She blinked and stared at the woman.
She was wearing a faded and thread-bare apron with a drab gray dress beneath it. Her face was flushed and streaked with soot under the chin.
"You bled a mighty lot, I must say. And, good Goddess, I almost thought you wouldn't make it."
Claire had to gulp on hearing her statement.
"Where is my sister?"
The woman's smile brightened. "Well, the little girl is having her meal downstairs with the rest of the guests. You should worry more about yourself."
Downstairs with guests? Where were they? What guests?
