Chapter 11 · Blood Bound

"Do it. Cut me open right now," Silas snapped, his voice a low, dangerous grate.

Mira didn't move. She stood frozen, the scalpel trembling just a fraction of an inch from the pulse point in his neck. The air in the room felt thick, tasting of old copper and the sterile, sharp scent of the antiseptic she’d managed to scavenge.

"You're insane," she whispered. "You're asking me to slice into the Lord Warden of the Bastion in the middle of a plague ward. One slip and I'm the one getting hanged."

Silas stepped forward, closing the gap until the blade actually pressed into his skin. He didn't flinch. He didn't even blink. He just looked down at her with those cold, predatory eyes, his chest barely moving.

"You're a surgeon, Kade. Or at least you were before you became a disgraced little rat hiding in the gutters," he sneered. He leaned in closer, his warmth radiating off him in waves, contrasting with the chill of the stone walls. "Now stop shaking and do your job.