Page 3 of Bound By Roses

‘I didn’t exactly give them a lot of time. My only priority was getting somewhere I could be alone with you. All I wanted to do was curl up against you and pretend that our bond was still intact.’

I reach out and cup his cheek. He leans into my hand and kisses my palm.

“Oh, wow,” Rhett exclaims. “You got your bond back.”

Quinn laughs softly. “Are we that obvious?”

“You two don’t do subtle.” He turns from us and waves to a nearby healer who looks about done with someone three beds over. She nods once before joining us a moment later. “This is Ocena. She’s got the gentlest hands out of all of them, let me tell you.”

The young woman with long blonde hair that shimmers like the sun on the sea laughs once, short and sharp. “That is because everyone else was too busy holding you down.”

I’d shoot Rhett a disapproving look, but I’m far too focused on Quinn. That is, until my eyes shift towards the closed door of the room where Jade is likely still inside. A wave of guilt hits me and the only thing that breaks through it is a gentle squeeze of my hand.

“You should check on him,” Quinn suggests, but I shake my head.

“Later. Right now, I’m exactly where I should be.”

He smiles at my use of his earlier words, but it quickly vanishes when his pants are unceremoniously torn open by the healer at our side.

She makes a sound of disapproval. “You have ripped your stitches.”

“I sincerely apologize,” Quinn tells her. “It won’t happen again.” Judging by the glint in his eyes and the slight upturn to one side of his lips when his gaze meets mine, I don’t think he means that at all. My core heats at the thought of him and I finishing what we’d started this morning and—Oh, Gods. Am I blushing? The widening of his smile tells me I am.

I quickly turn my attention to the gash on his leg to distract myself from the filthy thoughts already trying to make their way into my mind. “How did this happen?” This is the first time I’ve thought to ask. Quinn was fine before Jade collided with the beach.

“Imelda’s sword. She pushed past me when she realized what was happening and her blade clipped me as she went. I was only just able to roll out of the way before Jade… Well, you know.”

I do know.

I know very well what Jade did and the state he was in afterward. The state he’s in now. I should check on him once Quinn is taken care of, but I don’t think I can. Whatever pain his future holds from this point on is my doing. I knew the right thing was to let Jade die peacefully, but I just couldn’t lose anything else. Now, if he survives, he’ll feel the same loss of the bond I’d felt last night. And worse, he’ll have to see me truly bonded with Quinn—and that’sifhe survives this.

I’m cruel and selfish and—

Quinn sucks in a sharp breath that brings my focus back to him. He leans towards the healer to get her attention. “I know I said no last night, but I’m saying yes now.”

I don’t know what he means by that, but Ocena certainly seems to. Her eyes light up and she rushes away, only to return a moment later with a jar in her hand. She slips a small hand inside and when it emerges, a large glob of something red and slimy balances on two fingers.

“This will be painful for a moment, but then you will feel nothing.”

“She’s not lying,” Rhett quips. I’d almost forgotten he was here. “That stuff burns like the fires of Dragoria.”

Quinn nods, accepting both warnings, and I take his hand in mine. When I press against our bond, I find he’s put up a mental barrier to keep me out.

Before I can argue, Ocena smooths the glob into the open gash. Quinn’s neck arches back sharply and his hands ball into fists. “Fuck,” he groans and then bites down on his lip. The pain seems to last only a moment because as quickly as it came, his body relaxes, though his breathing is still a little shaky.

“Better?” Ocena asks, resuming her stitching of the wound.

“Much. I don’t feel a thing. What is that?”

“It is made from an ocean creature. The pain it inflicts is how it defends itself from predators. Even in death, it lingers.”

“How long will it last?”

“Relief can be felt for up to 24 hours. Less if it is washed off. I am assuming after this you will want to bathe, so I will give you a jar so you may reapply as you desire. You must return once you are clean so I can wrap this properly. I will not have you tearing your stitches every day. We do not have the time or the resources to accommodate your carelessness.”

My face heats again when I see the look on Quinn’s. At first I’m thankful he doesn’t make a comment to worsen my longingto get him alone again, but then his words register. “How is Jade?”

Of course I want to know how he is, but it’s easier not knowing. Without the answer to that question, I can force myself to pretend he’s not burned to a crisp and barely clinging to life because he’s already dead to the world thanks to the flower I forced down his throat.

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