Oscar:
I didn't realize I was crying until my vision blurred so badly that Eva's face became nothing more than a pale, broken shape beneath trembling light.
I wiped my face with shaking hands only for more tears to roll down. They just… wouldn't. And how could they when she lay there unconscious... broken and bruised.
Elder Ren and Healer Cao moved around her with quiet urgency, their hands glowing faintly as they worked. Their expressions were tight with concentration, but all I could see was her.
My mate.
My chest felt like it was being ripped apart from the inside as one by one her wounds got revealed.
Both her ankles had angry red marks circling them. They looked raw and inflamed.
"Silver." Healer Cao whispered as he inspected the marks closely. "And this one is swollen. It's twisted."
I could see the damage, could imagine the pain, and learning she had been chained with silver snapped something deep in me.
