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We’re never doing that again

The words haunted hiht to Keeley’s raw, oozing skin and poured medicine down her throat, then made sure she soaked in oatmeal baths She remained in a constant state of deliriuun thrashing atop the bed, leaving smears of blood on the sheets

"Helpon the other side of the room "You’ve touched her before? And then, after she healed, you touched her again, willingly, knowing this would happen? That her life would be forever ruined?"

Disease laughed inside his head

Nothing but a rabid dog, reuilt took Torin deeper and deeper down the pit of despair "She isn’t a carrier She suffers, and she heals But she isn’t a carrier"

"Torin--"

"I love you, my man, but my relationship with Keeley is not your business"

"It is," Lucien insisted "I know you Have known you for centuries Have watched you spiral every time you’ve touched sooing to die!" He slammed his fist into the mattress

It bounced, and Keeley h her hair, careful not to snag on the tangles "I’ eyes dull and feverish, staring blindly "When will they grow back? I need therow back?" It shredded hi her like this In the past, she had refused to sleep in his presence because it would have made her vulnerable Now? She was as vulnerable as a newborn babe

Because of ive himself

"My hands I need my hands" Tears cascaded down her cheeks

I ot your hands, princess I promise"

"Have to remove my feet next Have to escape the shackles My hands," she ended, curling onto her side and sobbing

His gaze jerked up to Lucien, but he quickly looked away; didn’t want to see the reflection of horror in his friend’s eyes Keeley had been bound inside that prison and had soth to remove her hands, and then her feet, to free herself

But she’d still been trapped

The heart he’d regroept inside his chest Sickness churned in his sto with her, "protecting" her Nowith her

Lives were at stake, yes Cameo’s Viola’s Baden’s Everyone he loved, really But on the other side of the coin, Keeley’s life was at stake

If he had to flip that coin, she would win No question No fifty-fifty odds