Belle didn't regain consciousness until the sun began to set and dip beneath the horizon. She stirred awake with a small moan because of the discomfort in her head.
She opened her eyes to the dimly lit room, blinking several times to focus as memories poured back to her like a tide, causing her to flinch at the recollection of falling from a great height into a dark hole, and the sharp sensation of hitting her head against something hard before everything went dark.
The rest of the things she recalled after that came in bits and pieces, fragments slipping in and out, where voices had flowed like echoes inside her mind. She had heard Rohan's voice pleading with her not to leave him, his desperate words saying that he would kill everyone if she did.
