Shadows and Silk

~SIENNA POV~

My eyelids dragged open, scraping like sandpaper over dry bone. A thick weight anchored my bones to the mattress, the kind of heavy, artificial exhaustion that did not come from honest sleep. It felt like poison sitting in the marrow. My tongue was coated in a bitter, copper film, and every thought in my head moved through dark sludge.

I stared up at the carved plaster ceiling. The