Page 26 of Tethered Souls

“Let me take away the pain,” Dayne says, but I don’t want him wasting energy on me. If Khalid’s given the order to kill him, I want him to at least have a shot.

However minuscule that might be.

“I’m fine,” I say.

Ignoring me as he so annoyingly does, he steps forward, muttering a healing incantation. Between the two of us, he’s the better healer, having intensely studied the human body for his innate magic anyway. I have no idea where the tibia is, let alone what a healthy one looks like. I can heal skin cuts and muscle tears, fractures and sprains, but anything that requires actual rearranging? No chance.

Pressing his hand to my burn, Dayne rebuilds my nerves and reshapes my skin. He can’t get rid of all the puckering; he isn’t strong enough, but he eases as much pain as he can. Even the burning ache in my chest fades, washed away by a warmth that leaves me drowsy. As if I’d laid in the sun too long.

Raising his hand, he waits until I drop my dress and then pulls me into a hug. “Glad you survived.”

“That’s because your magic is shit. Breaking it was easy.”

He snorts as he pulls away.

I glance at Khalid – or rather, where he was. He’s now off with his brother, and they’re talking in low tones. A buzz interrupts them, and Varius pulls out his phone. He glances at me before answering.

“What?” he says, and I wonder if he’s mocking me for my earlier tease or if he really is just that rude when he answers his phone. My eyes narrow slightly, but his face gives nothing away.

“You okay?” I ask Dayne, turning my attention to him. “Khalid didn’t –”

“Not a scratch. He appeared in my car just as I started to brake and then very calmly told me we were going for a walk.” He lowers his voice. “I nearly shit my pants.”

I grin.

“I for sure thought it was going to be an execution. But then I heard you moaning, and I thought my fate might be even worse than–”

I punch him in the arm.

He laughs. “So how does it feel to no longer be a virgin?”

“Virginity is a bullshit invention invented to control us, and theonlyreason a man would want a virgin is so they wouldn’t know he was full of shit when he said he was good in bed.”

“Except for Varius, clearly, given how much you were screaming.” He looks at me smugly. Before I can sputter out a response, he drops his voice. “Jesus Christ in a spit roast, did you see his dick?”

“Uh, duh. It wasinme.”

“Not all the way, it wasn’t.”

My jaw drops. “What?” Horror fills me. “No.” The word comes out as a whimper, a plea, a begging for mercy from the gods. “No. It had to be. It felt so fucking –” I stop, unable to say the words.

Dayne laughs. “Oh, you are so fucked.”

Grabbing his arm, I pull him further away from Varius and his goon and lower my voice. “What am I going to do? Dear gods, Dayne. I can’t take all of his dick. It’llliterallytear me in half.”

“It’ll be a damn good way to die though.”

“I’m serious, Dayne! There’s no way it’s going to fit.” I nibble my lip. “How much did he put in?”

“A bit more than the head?”

“What!”

“Well, the angle wasn’t great, and I was distracted by his hand on your throat...” He raises his hand to his neck and shivers. “Gods, I’d let him rail me.”

“Good. You can take my place. Your ass will be fine. We just need to figure out a spell to make you look like me –”

“No.”