Chapter 10 · Bound to the Executioner: Leveling Up With My Enemy - Chapter 10: Surgery on the Run

"Stop shaking, or I’m going to accidentally sew your liver to your ribs," Vesp snapped, her voice tight with a mix of adrenaline and pure irritation.

Soren didn't answer. He couldn't. He was slumped against the rattling wall of the armored rail-car, his chest heaving in shallow, wet gasps. The blackrot on his back had migrated, weaving jagged, obsidian veins across his collarbone and creeping toward his throat. Every time the train jolted, he let out a low, guttural hiss that sounded more like a wounded animal than the Empire's most feared Inquisitor.

"Shut up and hold this," Vesp commanded, shoving a blood-soaked cloth into his hand. She didn't wait for him to agree; she leaned in, her knee pinning his thigh to the floor to keep him steady.

Soren’s hand clamped around her wrist. His grip was still terrifyingly strong even in his delirium, his fingers digging into her skin. He pulled her closer, his eyes clouded with pain but still burning with that arrogant, lethal intensity.

"You're... wasting your mana," he rasped, his voice a sandpaper scrape. "Just let it... take me."

"Not a chance.