Page 142 of The Betrothal

I made another attempt to lift my arm and open my eyes fully, but they were having none of it.

I cleared my throat. “What did I do?”

Sophie laid her hand gently on my arm. “Oh, Iz, you did nothing.”

Was that pity?

“What did he do?” If Sophie pitied me, more than before, then that was no improvement on my having fucked it all up.

“Izzy, nothing. Can you open your eyes?”

I rubbed my arm over my eyelids, the thickness of my lashes and dewy friction of my wedding makeup smearing across my face.

I fluttered my lashes, steadily opening my eyes. The room was dull, darkened outside or curtains hiding the light, it couldn’t be too late in the day. The gentle glow in the room was cast by a lamp, not a window nor a fireplace.

The heavy copper base was familiar, and not the one of my room in my parents’.

I didn’t know Teddy’s room, but odds were that Sophie wouldn’t be in Teddy’s bedroom with me.

“There she is.” Sophie was perched on the bed, buried in a heavy jumper and a pair of leggings. Both of them mine. “I was scared to death you wouldn’t wake up.”

Was she scolding me?

“Very sorry to have worried you.”

She beamed at my attitude.

I lifted the bedding, glancing underneath. My gown was gone, a t-shirt burying my frame.

I sniffed. Lavender and vanilla.

It couldn’t be.

“Soph, where are we?” I wasn’t stupid, I knew where my mind was telling me I was. But my mind was drug-addled, and this could still be a nightmare. Not because it wasn’t wonderful, but because it was tormenting.

“Arse-end of Kent,” she quipped.

“Alex?”

She nodded.

“Seb?”

She nodded again.

They had been there, I had glimpses of memories of them in the church, not that I trusted anything my brain told me, not yet.

“But Ben? He wasn’t there?”

“He’s here though,” Sophie confirmed it for me. I was back at the cottage.

“Really?” I gasped, my eyes daring to prickle with tears, ones that wouldn’t come because I was parched again.

I scrambled up the bed, groaning at my headache.

“Seb said you might need these.” Sophie held out two tablets.

“Where are they?” I swallowed the tablets quickly.