Chapter 374: Sugar High II

Athena woke with a splitting headache.

A groan slipped past her lips as she rolled beneath the weight of it, dragging herself up from under the sheets. Her palm pressed flat to her forehead, as though she could somehow halt the steady, merciless pounding there.

She leaned back against the headboard with a weary sigh, grateful for the heavy curtains that kept the sunlight from spilling across the room and worsening her mood.

Her gaze drifted to the wall clock. The numbers swam for a moment before settling, and she gasped softly when she made them out—eleven a.m.

She shook her head in disbelief, making a mental note never to eat sugared cookies from strangers again.

Who had done this to her still?

Her thoughts shuffled through the faces from yesterday’s porch greetings. Was it Geraldine? Or the old woman with the glittering clothes? The overly grateful young couple? Or that girl who was already married at nineteen?

She gave a small, humorless huff. What was the point in speculating?

With a fitful sigh, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. That was when she noticed the small arrangement on her bedside table: a cup of water, two tablets neatly placed on a book, and a bottle with a label she had to squint to read—hangover medicine.

Beside it sat a stainless steel bowl, its lid trapping the faint, spicy aroma already curling at the edges. She didn’t need to open it to know it was Florence’s soup, the kind that could chase away half an illness with its heat.

Athena’s chest tightened at the gesture, the quiet care of it. It reminded her—painfully—of her first mother, long gone. She brushed the thought away before it could root itself and pushed to her feet.

Her balance faltered at first, her legs unsure beneath her, but steadied after a few breaths.

then

muttered inwardly, quickening her pace

pounding in her head like carpenters hammering from all directions. She bit down on her gasps, refusing to give them the

stood under a brief stream of cool water, then pulled on a flimsy robe. She accepted—reluctantly—that she wasn’t going to work today. The carpenters and cobwebs in her head were far

lying beside the glass. Two messages from Ewan blinked up at her. A small twist of nerves pressed at her

first, sent at midnight, was simply an acknowledgment of her text from

long? Dinner

tablets and hangover

herself last night, but all she could recall were

foot in the air

have brought him. Of course. Ewan had really won

closed as panic pooled

at their trust or hurt them in any way— She

contorting as the bitter taste spread across her tongue, down her throat, even up into her nose. Hoping Florence’s soup could wash it away, she uncovered the bowl, the steam rising in

of the medicine. Ewan deserved half her gratitude and half her

She glanced at the label again, committing the brand to memory. Bitter was good if

the day—clarity—accomplished. She gathered the bowl and cup, padding out toward the kitchen. Florence was there, standing

greeted, kissing the older

unused to this affection, to the loving

"Did you take the medicine too? Ewan rushed out to get it when he heard what

words before she returned her attention to the pot.

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