Chapter 41 · It Jumped To Her

"Don't touch me unless you're ready to lose the hand." Silas caught my wrist before the scalpel reached his arm.

His grip locked around me. Warm. Too warm. The black lines under his skin had climbed past his knuckles and disappeared beneath his sleeve.

I tried to pull free. "Move."

"You said cutting the vein would kill me."

"I said cutting the wrong vein would kill you. There's a difference."

His mouth tightened. "You always sound this pleasant when you're saving someone?"

"Only when the someone is holding me down instead of helping."

He stood between me and the metal table, one hand around my wrist, the other braced beside my hip. His coat had been thrown over a chair. His shirt clung damply to his back, sleeves rolled to his elbows. Every breath came hard, but he still looked like the man who could order half the Bastion burned before breakfast.

That was the problem. He was sick, and he was still dangerous.

Behind him, Nora shoved a tray of instruments across the table. "Mira, stop fighting him and look at the spread."

"I'm looking."

"No, you're staring at his face."

Silas glanced down at me.