*Audra's POV*
I woke because my body couldn't take more drifting, not because I'd actually slept. The air felt stale against my skin, thick and unmoving, and for a moment I couldn't tell if it was morning or evening or something in between. Light filtered through the cracks in thin, uneven lines, but even that seemed wrong, too sharp at the edges, too dull in the centre.
Time had stopped meaning anything.
Every part of me ached. My neck throbbed from hanging forward, my back burned from hours—days—in the same position, and my wrists felt like they were pulsing around the rope. I lifted my head slowly, the world dragging itself into focus like it was reluctant to be seen.
I didn't register it at first. Just a darker shape against the dim light, sitting too still to be anything good. When my vision finally cleared, Caesar's face settled into place, pale and oddly calm. He sat on the overturned crate as if he'd been waiting a long time.
He was looking at something in his hands.
