The same room surrounded me, and the hope that the whole ordeal had been part of the nightmare was decimated. My body was sticky with dried blood and sweat, and my stomach ached horribly. I hadn’t eaten since the night before we had gone to the High Council’s Court, and I still didn’t know how much time had passed since then. I knew I’d be throwing up soon, although it wouldn’t be much, because of the lack of food combined with my withdrawal from Jace. I felt weak, and I knew I was probably dehydrated. I had lost a lot of fluids during my struggle to free myself. My biceps and shoulders burned from holding my weight up, and it felt as if they were on the verge of ripping apart. My skull pounded like someone was bashing my head in with a sledgehammer. All the pain intensified my nausea, causing it to flood up my esophagus and out of my mouth. As I had expected, not much came out, but that didn’t stop my body from dry heaving repeatedly.
