I woke to the pale morning light filtering through the dusty window. My eyes blinked open, and for a moment, everything felt almost normal. Then I shifted my weight and felt the unfamiliar shape of my body, the wrongness that had become my new normal.

I turned my head. Rayan was still asleep in his bed on the other side of the room, his back to me, blanket pulled up to his shoulders. Good. I needed a moment to myself.

I stretched my foot out from under the covers, and my breath caught.

My talons had changed again. The yellow scales had crept higher up my foot, covering what had been pale skin yesterday. And now there was a new digit on the other side—a little toe-like projection, vestigial but unmistakably there. I flexed my foot, and all three toes spread apart, the black claws scraping against the sheets.

That's when I noticed the bed.

Great gashes ran across the fabric, threads pulled loose, stuffing peeking through. My sharp claws had torn everything during the night. I stared at the damage, and a thought crept into my mind unbidden: This bed doesn't suit me anymore. I should use a nest instead.

I slapped my hand over my mouth, my face burning. A nest? I was thinking about nests now? What next, would I start scratching for worms?

I pushed myself up to sit on the edge of the bed.

And gasped.

Pleasure. Sharp, sudden, overwhelming pleasure shot through my body as my weight settled on something that shouldn't have been there. It felt like I'd sat directly on my most sensitive spot, only there was no spot there anymore. Just smooth, sensitive flesh.

I jolted upright, heart pounding. "What the hell?"

I looked down between my legs. Nothing. Just plain skin, my dress bunched around my hips. There was dried fluid there, crusted white from last night's egg, but no sign of what had just sent that jolt through me.

My vagina. I couldn't feel my vagina anymore. At least, not where it used to be.

I reached back with a trembling hand, my fingers searching for my anus. I found it easily—it felt larger, more sensitive, and when my finger brushed against it, shivers raced down my spine. A larger, horizontal opening that felt alien and wrong and exquisitely tender.

I stumbled to the mirror, turned my back to …