Chapter 73: Threads of Blood

Zande rubbed her temples, exhaustion seeping into her bones. Whoever this man was, this stranger who had reached into her very soul, she knew he would come for her. She could feel it in her blood, in the strange, deep connection that tethered them. She had to make a decision, one she wasn’t prepared to face. She could never leave her family, not now, not when Dedari was already struggling with the weight of his own darkness. "Oh, God," she murmured to herself, pressing the heels of her hands harder against her head, as if she could drive the confusion away. "Are you in pain?" The voice slithered into her consciousness, deep and velvet, laced with arrogant amusement. Zande froze, her eyes darting around the interior of the bus. The voice wasn’t Dedari’s. It didn’t belong to any of her companions. It was him—this strange presence that had begun to haunt her since the attack. Her breath hitched in her throat, the air growing thick, and for a moment, it felt as though she was breathing