Alaric jolted upright.
His shirt clung to his chest and back, soaked through with cold sweat.
Hair stuck to his forehead in damp strands.
The world spun around him as he tried to focus. Walls tilting, floor wavering beneath him.
He gripped the edge of his mattress, trying to anchor himself.
"Haa... Haa..."
His vision blurred at the edges. Everything felt wrong. Disoriented. Like he'd been spinning in circles and just stopped.
"How..." His voice came out rough, barely a whisper. "Why is this happening?"
The dizziness worsened.
Room tilted harder. He squeezed his eyes shut, but that made it worse, the darkness behind his eyelids filled with afterimages. The throne room. The red sky. The blood rising past his knees. The woman's face, twisted with rage and grief.
"Why did you do it?"
Then suddenly sharp pain shot through his skull.
Alaric's hands shot to his head, fingers digging into his temples.
