“How long have I been out?” I ask, and my voice has a morning roughness to it.

“It’s just after eight at night,” she says, and starts to lift her arms, but then seems to decide against it and puts them down again.

I would laugh at how awkward she’s being right now, but it would hurt my ribs. “Layla, if you don’t woman up and hug me already, this friendship is off,” I finally say, and lift an eyebrow.

Her smile widens and she carefully wraps her arms around me, like it’s the first hug she’s ever given. She’s about the same size as Emily, and just the thought of Emily and Pembrook makes my heart ache.

“Thank you for saving my stupid brother,” she says into my shoulder.

I nod against her head and we stay like that for a couple of seconds.

She releases me and her eyes are teary, but she tries not to let me see. “Let’s get you to the couch,” she says, and walks next to me in case I need support.

I lower myself slowly onto the cushions. Ash joins us, and he looks as banged up as I feel. As he sits, we make eye contact. He looks so genuinely happy to see me that my stomach does a quick flip.

“How in the world are you up and about right now?” I ask him, looking at his bandages.

He grins. “You seriously thought some poison and these little cuts would set me back?”

Layla rolls her eyes. “What he means is that he came here so I could play nurse to him and he could wait for you to wake up.”

But Ash doesn’t respond with a joke the way he normally would. He just looks at me like he can’t believe I’m real.

Layla glances from Ash to me and back again. She clears her throat. “Pippa stopped by to bring you dinner. She asked me to let her know when you woke up,” she says, and stands. “So I’m just going to, uh, go do that.” It’s obvious that she’s leaving the room to let us talk, but neither of us tells her not to go.

Layla closes the door behind her and Ash and I are left on the couch. He stares at me, those intense eyes burning into my own.

I sigh. “Blackwood gave me a choice,” I say, not sure how to approach this topic. “She said I could stay here or I could leave. That I’d fulfilled an agreement she made with my dad, so my next step was up to me.”

Ash nods at me like he figured as much. “That makes sense.”

“That makes sense to you?” I ask, wrinkling my brow. “It doesn’t really make sense to me.”

“Well,” Ash says. “Aarya more or less told the entire school who your parents are. And the heroic story of how she saved you—emphasis on heroic. Now she’s growling at Brendan every time they pass each other in the hallway.”