Caged No More: The True Heir's Wrath novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: The Wrists

At dawn Jonah got up and came back with a small iron key and a tin of salve.

"Give me your hands," he said.

I held them out, and he unlocked the cuffs.

The silver fell away, and I sucked in a breath at the air on the burns.

My wrists were raw red rings, blistered at the edges.

He set the chain on the nightstand and did not look at it again.

"You took them off," I said.

"They were for the Accord. The Accord says I hold you, not that I hurt you."

"You hurt me in the courtyard."

He looked up.

I had not meant to say it, but the words were out, and my wolf pushed them on.

"You walked me through my gate by a chain," I said. "You let them throw rocks at me. A man hit me in the ribs with a stone the size of his fist, and you stood there and watched."

"I know."

"You said get up."

"I did."

"I got up," I said, and my voice shook. "That was my pack. Those were people I had fed and fought beside. I walked out between them with my face bleeding, and you held the end of the chain."

He was silent a long moment.

He took my right hand and began, very carefully, to smooth the salve over the blister.

"If I had cut that chain in the courtyard and said stop," he said, "they would have taken you from me."

"What?"

"Four hundred wolves, Ivy. A man had just walked in and told them their heir had fed a girl to the rogues. If I'd shown you any mercy, Dane would have said I was your accomplice, and the pack would have torn us both apart before I got to the gate."

I looked at him.

"The chain was the only thing that kept you mine," he said. "It was the only way out I had."

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