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It’s only when my vision clears that I realize it’s Kylian.

He freezes, his hand hovering as if he’s unsure whether he’s allowed to exist this close to me anymore. He looks away, jaw flexing hard as he swallows.

“You made me break my promise,” he growls.

“What promise?” I ask hoarsely.

His head snaps back toward me, eyes burning. “I promised I would never intentionally hurt you the way your madam had, that my men wouldn’t hurt you,” he says. “You made me fucking whip you.”

I stare at him, disbelief and anger tangling in my chest. “You think I don’t know why you had to punish me?” I retort. “I understood it. I stood there and took it. But what you said . . .” My voice shakes. “You didn’t have to be nasty when I was already in agony.”

His gaze sharpens dangerously. “You say that like I wasn’t enduring it alongside you!” he snarls, reaching for me, his fingers locking around my throat. He drags me closer yet his grip isn’t tight, just controlling my movements. “Like I wouldn’t have healed you.”

“You only healed me because you want something from me. You want my magic—”

His hand slams over my mouth, cutting me off, fingers firm but shaking with barely restrained anger. “Not now,” he hisses. “Servants have been in and out of the bedroom. Anyone could hear you.” His eyes blaze, terrifying in their intensity. “Do you have any idea how many lives I’ve risked keeping you safe? You keep saying I want something from you, but the only thing I want”—his voice cracks—“is you.”

He shoves me back abruptly, water sloshing violently over the sides of the tub. Red-stained water spilling onto the floor, and before I can speak again, he turns away. Dragging himself out of the bath and snatching a towel from the hook.

That’s when I notice his back, and my breath catches in my throat.

His skin is torn open in brutal lines, deep slices crossing muscle and shoulder, still bleeding freely, unmistakable and horrifying in their symmetry.

“Did—” I whisper, stunned as I look at the bloody water I’m left sitting in. “Did the Demon King do that . . . in exchange for me?”

He whirls on me, fury blazing. “No.”

Then his tone turns colder. “I told you I endured it with you.”

My mind reels, struggling to make sense of words that feel impossible. “That doesn’t—”

“Why do you think Eagan forced me into a coat?” he snaps. “It wasn’t for warmth. Vampires barely feel the temperature. It was to hide the fact that every time the whip struck you, I would bleed too.”

My chest tightens painfully as guilt floods in, thick and suffocating. I remember Eagan passing him a coat before we left the room.

Kylian storms past me, yanking the door open and slamming it hard enough to rattle the walls. Leaving me alone in the tub, staring at the water and the blood and the impossible weight of what I’ve done.

I climb out shakily, wrapping a towel around myself, and draining the tub. My body is sore but whole, and for the first time, the truth settles fully in my chest.

He healed me, and I punished him for it, not realizing he could feel everything I was enduring. But how? Is it this bond he speaks of? Nothing makes sense to me. It should be impossible.

I move into the bedroom, my steps hesitant, only to find clothing laid out neatly on the bed. When Kylian reappears from the wardrobe, he points to them without looking at me.

“You need to stay covered,” he says roughly. “Zander’s men cannot know I healed you straight away. After that little show on deck, my crew can tell you are more than what I claimed you to be. I don’t want the mutts to get suspicious.”

I nod, throat tight.

He turns away, groaning as he bends to pull on his pants. The movement is clearly painful, and before I can say anything, Eagan slips into the room, bandages in his hands.

He sets them down beside me, then meets my gaze.

“You can heal him,” Eagan’s voice says softly in my head as Kylian wanders back into the bathroom.

My eyes widen.

“He won’t heal without blood. But he won’t ask you for that. He feels guilty enough,” Eagan whispers, glancing at the door.

I swallow hard, and Eagan leaves without another word.