The first hour passed in silence and blood.
Darius’s wounds had reopened from the strain of standing. Every slow drip that hit the stone floor echoed through the bond and landed in my own body as a matching pulse of heat. We had stopped trying to hide the shared pain from each other. There was no point.
The four guards kept their distance but never looked away. Crossbows remained loaded. The great doors stayed shut.
Darius spoke first, voice low enough that only I could hear.
“The collar is the problem. Everything else is secondary.”
“I know.”
“If we attack him directly, she dies. If we refuse to kneel, she dies. If we kneel, he owns us publicly and she still dies the moment we are no longer useful.”
“I know that too.”
He turned his head against the pillar until his eyes met mine.
