My hands wouldn't stop shaking.
I stood over the bathroom sink in my wing of the fortress, scrubbing the copper-scented residue of Asher's blood from under my fingernails. The water was scalding, turning my skin a raw pink, but I didn't care. I needed to wash away the feeling of his jagged heartbeat under my palm.
I had spent years in prestigious hospitals, saving lives on cold steel tables, but tonight had been different. Tonight, I had saved a man I was supposed to hate. A man who represented every cage I had ever tried to escape.
"Mummy?"
I jumped, spinning around to see Leo standing in the doorway. He was in his dinosaur pajamas, clutching his stuffed lion—the one Asher had bought him. His eyes were red-rimmed from crying.
"Oh, baby," I whispered, dropping to my knees and pulling him into a tight embrace. "I thought you were with Marcus in the sunroom."
