Page 87 of Tethered In Blood

I gritted my teeth, pushing back against the tremors that threatened me.I couldn’t let this happen. Not now. Not in front of him.Oberon’s scent enveloped me again.

Real. Present. Here.

I pushed myself to focus on it. Focus onhim.

I hadn’t noticed when the physician finished the stitches. I didn’t even remember him saying he had. My body was locked in place. My mind was caught between the past and the present, drowning in the spaces between them.

“I will apply a salve to the wound to prevent infection. You should wrap it later when you can remove your dress.”

I forced a slight nod against Oberon’s shoulder before the cool sensation of the salve dragged me under again.

Footsteps clicked against the floor. Slow. Measured. Certain.

Marcus came to a halt behind me. I couldn’t see him, but I could sense him. The insufferable presence that coiled around me like a snake waiting to strike. A gloved hand gripped my chin, tilting my head just enough to make my neck ache, reminding me I couldn’t move unless he allowed it.

His breath brushed my ear, filled with amusement. “Were you out playing healer again?” My lungs hitched. The chains at my wrists felt heavier, the metal biting into raw, torn skin. Marcus sighed, shaking his head in mock disappointment. “You can’t even save yourself.”

The words cut deeper than any blade he had used on me.

I tried to pull away. I tried to twist my face from his grasp, but the pressure on my jaw only increased in a silent warning.

His fingers trailed lower.

The calloused hand slid up my arm and rested on the back of my head. “Come back to us.” Oberon’s body was still rigid, tense with anger, but I no longer understood who it was meant for. My heart pounded in my ears, drowning out the present. The walls felt too close, and unseen chains pulled at my limbs.

‘It’s my job to keep you safe.’Istarted shaking again. That’s what it was. Duty. Another burden he had to bear. He was an assassin, a man who had killed countless people without hesitation. Yet there he was, forced to sit and keep someone likemecalm.

The tears flowed uncontrollably again.

Why him? Why did he have to see this? Why did he have to hear it?

Oberon let out a deep, agonizing sigh when the door clicked shut, and an audible, raw sob wrenched free from my throat. I hated he was there to hear it.

26

Eden

THEROOMWAStensewhen I woke. The kind that thickened the air and made every breath weighted. I shifted, and my breathing became uneven. His muscles stiffened beneath me. He was a storm pulling at the edges of restraint.

Oberon stared at me, unblinking. His piercing gaze twisted my stomach.He read me.The moment his stare pierced through the surface, past my defenses, he must have seen the panic lingering in the corners of my eyes and the fear still coiled tightly in my chest. His brows twitched.

It was too much. Blinding pain lanced through my back when I broke the contact too fast. My body screamed in protest, my vision swayed, but I buried it under my perfected mask.

“Herbalist.”

I hesitated. My fingers wrapped into the sheets, and my gaze locked on my hands. I knew what I would see if I looked at him—the frustration, the anger that had been simmering beneath the surface since I woke up to the physician.

“We need to wrap—”

“No,” I clipped.

There was a pause, a crackle in the silence.

“I will wrap it,” I said.

With a sharp exhale, his hand raked through his hair, and his fingers gripped as if he were stopping himself from saying what he wanted to. “You shouldn’t—”

“I will,” I repeated, steel lining my voice.

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