Epilogue

Audacious rays of sunlight woke amaris up. They flitted through the shutters and the curtains and made their way to her eyelids. She scrunched her eyebrows as she groaned and slowly opened her eyes, flinching from the light.

She gazed around the room, slowly recognizing the thick dirty red carpet, the old dusty paintings, the ripped off wallpaper. She was in the town house.

She sat up and a wave of dizziness attacked her. She clutched the sheets and shut her eyes until it subsided. “Heavens,” she murmured as she leaned against the wall. She couldn’t remember falling asleep in here. She couldn’t remember anything.

Her head ached as she pushed it to remember something, anything, close to her ending up in ombretta’s living room turned sleeping quarters. And slowly, flashes surfaced in her memory. Mizuko handing them the weaved drouse, the sleeping guards, the grapevine, Raven, and then…