Chapter 21. Beneath the Bruises

Seeing Knox on the floor, his face a mottled landscape of bruises and his lip split, I felt a surge of nausea. The healing process had begun, his supernatural nature knitting skin and bone back together, but it was slow, and the damage was extensive. His one eye swollen nearly shut, a deep shade of purple spreading like a storm cloud under the thin skin, and there were cuts that looked deep enough to have hit bone. It was clear he'd been in a brutal bar fight, one I knew he had started himself.

Dick!

"Or is it to get attention." Sage inserted moodily. But I knew she was forcing it; she was worried about him too because despite everything—the lies, the hurt he'd caused me—seeing him like this twisted a knot in my stomach. I couldn't enjoy his suffering; it just made me sick, and I knew she to felt the same; I could sense it.

With legs feeling like they were made of jelly, I walked over to him, each step shaky as my heart hammered against my ribs.