Chapter 103 Shared Pain
I picked the warm cloth back up with my free hand. I leaned closer, my dark hair falling over my shoulder to brush against his bare chest. I began to wash his left arm, carefully cleaning the dried silver blood from the deep puncture wounds where the beast’s needle-teeth had sunk in.
He watched me work. The silence in the room stretched, no longer heavy and suffocating, but intimate and quiet. Every stroke of the cloth across his skin sent a faint ripple of relief through the bond. I could feel his physical pain dulling, numbed by the simple, grounding sensation of my touch.
"Your voice," he said suddenly, his gaze dropping to my throat. "When you screamed in the arena... the shockwave. I have never felt magic like that. It wasn't just raw power. It was pure rage."
"I thought I was watching you die," I said, not looking up from his arm. "I told myself I wouldn't sing. I told myself I would let the beast kill me before I fed the rot in your chest again. But when it pinned you... when I saw the blood coming out of your mouth..."
I stopped washing him. My hands were shaking too badly. I dropped the cloth and pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes, trying to stop the sudden, hot rush of tears.
"I couldn't lose you," I choked out.
Klaus shifted his weight, ignoring the sharp spike of agony that shot through our bond. He reached up, his large hands grabbing my waist, and pulled me down.
I collapsed against his right side, careful not to touch his torn ribs. I buried my face in the crook of his neck, my tears soaking into his skin. He wrapped his arm tightly around my back, holding me against him with a fierce, desperate strength.
"I'm here," he murmured, his lips pressing against my hair. "I am right here."
We lay there in the grey light, tangled together on the ruined bed. Through the tether, his exhaustion wrapped around me like a heavy blanket, pulling my own eyelids down.
I didn't want to sleep, but the sheer emotional toll of the bond was dragging me under.
"Rest," he whispered, his fingers slowly stroking the length of my spine. "We are safe for now."
I drifted off to the sound of his breathing.
A sharp, metallic scrape jerked me awake.
I gasped, my eyes flying open. The suite was darker now, the grey light having deepened into the bruised purple of twilight. Klaus was fully asleep beside me, his breathing deep and even, his face slack with a temporary peace.
The sound came from the heavy iron door across the room.
I carefully untangled myself from Klaus’s arm, slipping off the mattress. My bare feet hit the stone floor without a sound. I stood frozen in the shadows, staring at the door.
The heavy iron grate over the observation slot slid back with a squeal of rusted hinges.
I held my breath. I stepped back, melting into the dark corner near the tall wooden wardrobe, completely out of sight from the slot.
"Admiral?" a voice called out.
It wasn't a guard. It wasn't the dry, papery whisper of the Emperor.
It was the high, cruel, musical lilt of Lady Vespera.
My blood ran cold.
"Oh, Klaus," she crooned through the heavy iron bars of the grate. "Are you dead yet? The Emperor has bets running in the High Council. Half the lords think the beast's venom finished you. The other half think your little pet Witch finally sang the life out of you."
I pressed my back against the cold wood of the wardrobe, my heart hammering against my ribs.
I heard the distinct jingle of heavy coins.
"You see nothing, guard," Vespera commanded softly. "Give me the key. I simply want to pay my respects to the fallen hero."
A grunt of acknowledgment, followed by the heavy clank of an iron key turning in the lock.
The handle turned. The massive door groaned open, swinging inward to reveal Vespera standing on the threshold. She wore a gown of rich, blood-red silk, holding a perfumed handkerchief over her nose to block the stench of the room. Two elite guards stood behind her in the corridor, looking away.
Vespera stepped inside, letting the heavy door rest ajar behind her.
She walked slowly toward the bed, the heels of her boots clicking sharply on the stone. She didn't see me in the shadows. Her eyes were entirely fixed on Klaus's prone, half-naked body on the mattress.
I watched her face as she reached the edge of the bed. The cruel, mocking smile on her lips faltered. She lowered the handkerchief.
She was staring at his chest.
She saw the four jagged, crusting ravines the beast had torn into his side. But more importantly, she saw the left side of his chest. She saw the network of black, necrotic veins sitting dormant over his heart.
Vespera’s red eyes widened in genuine shock. She leaned in closer, her gaze tracking the unnatural, violet pulsing deep beneath the black rot.
"What in the dark gods..." she whispered.
Her eyes darted to the small wooden table beside the bed. She saw the basin of grey water. She saw the blood-stained cloths.
And then, she saw the silver dagger sitting on the edge of the table, its blade coated in dried crimson blood. Not silver vampire blood. Crimson. Human. Siren.
Vespera wasn't stupid. She had survived the Emperor’s court by noticing the details everyone else missed. I saw the exact moment the realization clicked in her mind.
She looked from the crimson blood on the dagger to the black veins on Klaus's chest. She remembered my silence in the arena. She remembered the shockwave of my voice, and how Klaus had immediately collapsed, choking on black sludge.
"The Anchor," she breathed, her voice trembling with a mixture of horror and absolute, triumphant glee. "He isn't just a guard. He's the filter."
She took a step back from the bed, a slow, wicked smile stretching across her face, showing the sharp tips of her fangs.
"The Grand Admiral is a glorified drainpipe for the Siren's filth," she whispered to the empty room. "And she gave him her blood to keep him alive."
I stepped out of the shadows.
Vespera spun around, startled. Her hand flew to the small jeweled dagger at her waist, but when she saw me standing there in my ruined dark dress, she relaxed. She let out a soft, delighted laugh.
"You foolish, foolish little fish," she purred, her eyes shining with absolute malice. "Do you know what the Emperor does to assets that bind themselves together? He separates them. Permanently."
I didn't speak. I just stared at her, the cold, murderous fury rising in my chest.
"I am going to enjoy watching him burn," Vespera promised, backing toward the open door. "And then, I am going to enjoy wearing your pearls while you scream."