Page 130 of Veiled

“He was just lying there?” She presses.

Korr nods once, jaw tight. “Barely conscious. No sign of what attacked him.”

She moves closer to the wound, lifting one of the shredded edges of his uniform. “These look like claw marks, but not from any animal I’ve seen before.” She glances at Korr. “Any ideas?”

He shakes his head immediately, but something cold crawls up my spine. The claw lines are too precise. Too deliberate.

The recruit twitches violently, breath stuttering.

Korr meets Healer Sara’s eyes, “He’s already seized twice on the way over.”

My instructor nods and flicks her gaze to me. “Annalise, I’m going to need you to pass me tools while I examine the wounds.”

I nod and step to the bedside, forcing my hands to stay steady so I can actually be of help.

Before I can reach for the supplies, our patient jerks violently.

His eyes snap open, pupils blown wide and wrong, like he is looking but can’t actually see us.

“Back!” Korr barks. Too late.

The recruit thrashes with feral strength, knocking over the metal medical tool tray and grabbing at the nearest thing—me. His face is inches from mine, eyes rolling back, his fingers pressing into my collarbone, pinning me like prey.

My body reacts before my brain does: My vision narrows. My throat closes. My hands go cold.

Another hand: bigger, heavier…around my throat.

Another breath: hot, spiced…too close to my face.

Another pair of eyes: unhinged, angry…unpredictable.

My father.

I blink, and it’s Healer Sara shouting something, not him. But my body doesn’t know the difference, and I’m frozen to the spot. My knees try to give out, but the recruit’s grip holds me upright as his body convulses again.

Korr is suddenly prying the patient’s hand off me with one brutal twist of his own wrist and shoving the man back onto the bed, pinning him with a forearm across the chest. His calm but firm voice cuts through everything, a strike of clarity right against my panic, “Annalise.”

My gaze snaps to his.

“Breathe,” he tells me quietly. “Breathe with me. Just breathe with me.”

I watch his chest rise and fall, and I force the air going in and out of my lungs to match up with his.

Healer Sara doesn’t even glance at us, too busy activating the binding spells. Blue lights snap into place around the recruit’s limbs, and he thrashes once, twice, then collapses into spasms that fade to shallow convulsions.

Korr doesn’t move until the final rune seals.

Then, only when the danger is gone, he moves over to me again, subtle enough not to draw attention. “You’re okay,” he murmurs, pitched low enough that only I can hear.

I swallow and nod. “I—I’m fine.” I’m not fine, and judging by the look on his face, he knows it too, but he nods anyway, accepting the lie because I need it right now.

Erin straightens. “Good, he’s secure now. Korr, help me stabilize him.”

He turns to go, but as he steps past me, his fingers brush my elbow. Barely there. A touch light enough to pretend it didn’t happen, but it was intentional. An anchor.

I freeze.

My breath catches again—not from fear this time, but from the startling realization that he knew…Not just that I’d been grabbed or that the patient had gone feral.