Soren's POV

I stared at the white ceiling. Everything felt hazy, like I was floating somewhere between sleep and consciousness. Voices filtered through the fog — muffled, distant.

“How long until he wakes up?”

That voice — I knew it. The only person I could ever call a true friend. Jace.

“He should—”

The rest blurred. I saw movement in my periphery, someone speaking, but the words were just noise. Slowly, the fog began to lift,

my vision sharpening bit by ...