Another tether. Another chain. A part of me recoiled, but it was Cayden. My Cayden.
I pulled his forearm tighter across my heart. The warmth of his skin seeped through my ribs; part of me wanted to disappear into it, the other part screamed. “You saved my life. And if I had to choose someone to be tethered to, it would be you.”
He exhaled shakily behind me. He would accept my words, but they would weigh on him.
“I’m… not someone who should be allowed to tether,” he said quietly. “My Prophet had me with his daughter. And in turn, he bred me with my sister. I didn’t know… I didn’t understand until I left and learned. I’m a genetic mistake who shouldn’t even have lungs.”
I rubbed slow circles on his thigh, trying to ground him.
“I had no idea… about my daughter,” he continued. “She came early. She was small and twisted and broken, but she cried, Quinn. She cried.”
He shuddered. “One arm. Half a chest. Forest-green hair. But she cried.”
My fingers twined with his. Our hands fit like a promise neither of us had asked for. I kissed each one as his voice cracked.
“My Prophet put a knife through her spine. I tried to stop him, but I was relieved when her tiny wails cut off. I didn’t want to see her die slowly.”
He spoke in fragments, each word a blade. I could feel every cut through his shaking breath. A scream built in my throat, quiet and strangled. The cruelty he’d survived, and carried, was too much for one soul. I pressed closer, as if my body could absorb some of it for him. “You loved her. She knew. That’s what matters.”
Silence wrapped around us. I wanted to turn and kiss his face, to wipe away the tears. But I understood. He’d only shared this because I couldn’t see him. So, I stayed facing forward, pressing into him wherever I could.
His breathing calmed. His grip softened.
“…Think Rowan would cut my dick off if I asked him to?”
“No. But Ezra’s got the temperament, and the knives.” I turned my head and pressed my lips into his hair. “There’s nothing wrong with you. Where I’m from, kids are just an unfortunate side effect of sex. Maybe don’t cut your dick off yet.”
He didn’t reply.
Which meant I needed to drop it.
He relaxed his arms further and wiped tears off his face. “We have incoming.”
The air shifted. My body remembered weight and time again, right before the door slammed open. Rowan bolted into the room and swept me out of Cayden’s lap into his massive chest. He kissed me soundly, wrapping me in his burly arms before setting me back on the bed.
Without him manhandling me, my body moved sluggishly. Desperate thirst clawed at my throat.
The two men stepped up. Cayden grabbed a cup while Rowan formed a little ball of water. They studied each other, silent tension crackling, before Rowan let the ball fall into the cup and nodded to Cayden, a quiet peace offering.
I took the drink. “Quite civil.”
“A lot has changed in the last week,” Rowan said, leaning against my bed.
I spat out the water. “Week?”
“Healing takes energy,” Rowan said. “Xan had Cayden and me to help, or he’d be unconscious too.”
“The Architect.” My jaw clenched. “The man who sent me down there in the first place.”
“Xan didn’t change your schedule.” Rowan reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “He’s devastated by all of this.”
“To put it mildly,” Cayden interjected.
I jerked away from him. Cayden wouldn’t defend Xan if the world were ending.
Rowan cupped my cheek and steered my gaze to his. “For two days, we didn’t know if you were going to make it.”
My chest tightened as the truth settled. Xan had saved me again, while I thought the worst of him.
