The fire had been rekindled.
I did not know when I had fallen asleep, only that I had woken to darkness and the cold weight of fear pressing against my chest. The embers in the hearth had long since died, leaving only ash and the memory of warmth. I lay in the furs, staring at the ceiling I could not see, and let the fear wash over me.
Tomorrow. The trial. The assembled warriors. The test that would determine everything.
I had faced danger before. I had faced the dungeon, the Church, and the Crown. But those had been crises I could react to, situations where instinct and desperation carried me through. This was different. The decision was deliberate. This experience was a test I had chosen to accept, knowing that I might fail.
The fear was a living entity, coiling in my stomach and tightening around my throat. I tried to breathe through it, to push it away, but it clung to me like a second skin.
A soft sound from the corridor.
