Chapter 23 · Bound to the Executioner: Leveling Up With My Enemy - Chapter 23: Riot at Armory Nine

"Get your hands off me before I decide your heart is better off on the floor," Soren spat, though he didn't move an inch.

Vespera was still pressed against him, her fingers digging into the leather of his chest piece. The air between them tasted like ozone and old blood. She could feel his heart hammering—not from fear, but from the sheer effort of not crushing her against the wall.

"We're mirroring, Soren," Vesp hissed, her voice shaking. "If that psycho with the black blade cuts you, I feel it. If he guts you, I'm the one bleeding out. So maybe stop acting like you're the only one at risk here."

Soren’s gaze dropped to her lips, then snapped back to her eyes. The intensity was suffocating. He leaned in, his breath warm against her cheek. "Then stay behind me. If you trip and scrape a knee, I'm not spending my afternoon feeling a phantom itch in my shin.