Kai knelt over Eevy on the deck of the captured ship.
The night air brushed across them both.
Her breathing was shallow and ragged.
The black veins crawled visibly beneath her pale skin like rivers heading straight for her heart.
She looked fragile in that moment, nothing like the fierce rogue who had spat blood in a knight's face only minutes earlier.
He gently took her wrists and pinned them above her head, his body settling over hers with careful weight.
He did not do it to trap her but to steady and let her feel that she was not alone in this.
"Hey," he said softly, his voice low and steady.
"Look at me."
Her eyes fluttered open.
They were hazy with pain and fever.
She searched his face, confusion and fear mixing in her gaze.
"I'm going to pull the curse out of you," Kai told her, his thumb brushing lightly over the inside of her wrist.
"But I need you to let me in. All the way. Don't fight it. Just trust me."
She swallowed hard.
